Family

Willow stood there smiling, it was unclear where it was a fixed smiled or genuine.

"How do you do?" Giles asked.

"Pleasure. Well, I, I don't mean to interrupt your plans, I know we've come on you kind of suddenly, but I thought we could have dinner." Mr. Maclay said

"Okay." Tara said.

"Why don't I pick you up at six, and we'll..." he glanced at the others, "do some catching up."

"Yes, sir." Tara said, which was kind of an odd way to address her father.

"Forgive me for running out. We're double-parked." Mr. Maclay said to the others.

Giles gestured with his coffee cup like, 'that's okay.' Mr. Maclay, Cousin Beth, and Donny turn to leave. Tara watched anxiously.

"Nice to meet you all," Donny said from the doorway.

Willow waved and smiled back. Tara walked farther into the shop, toward Willow.

"That's so weird. Your... whole family." Willow said.

Tara smiled nervously, "Yeah."

Buffy and Xander exchanged looks.

"They seem nice." Willow said.

"You know, they-they're okay. Families are always..."

"They make you crazy." Willow said understandingly.

"Usually. Wanna get into research mode?" Tara asked.

"Sure." Willow replied.

Willow and Tara walked over to the table.

Buffy entered her house through the front door, tossing her keys onto a table.

"Honey, I'm home." Buffy called.

"Did you have a good day at work?" Michael asked coming downstairs. Michael was wearing the same clothes as earlier, but he now had his hair tied back, showing that it was shaven underneath.

"It's a rat race."

They kissed

"I squared away the rest of your stuff. Wouldn't even know you ever left." Michael said.

"Oh, you're a God. You're like the... God of boyfriends." Buffy said.

"Nah, I just like it when you owe me favours."

"Well, this earns you a big favour. There could be outfits."

"Ooh. Be still my heart."

They kissed again. Dawn emerged from the other room, carrying a bag.

"See ya later." Dawn said.

"Whoa! Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, where do you think you're going?" Buffy asked.

"I'm going to Melinda's for dinner."

"Since when?"

"Now-ish."

"You can't. I-it's not safe for you to walk there."

"It's just across the street. What is the big deal, I'm just gonna go..."

"No. It's family night." Buffy said and glanced at Michael, "And besides, Melinda's a bad influence. I don't like you hanging out with someone that... short."

Michael couldn't believe how lame Buffy's excuse was; he would have thought she'd have come up with something better. Especially after having nearly two years of making up excuses for her slaying.

"I am so glad you're moving back into the house. This is the source of my gladness." Dawn said annoyed.

She stalked off. Buffy sighed.

"She makes me crazy."

Buffy walked past Michael into the living room.

"That's... kinda the word I was searching for." Michael said.

Buffy sat on sofa, "What? She shouldn't be going over there."

"Yeah, a lot of young people nowadays are experimenting with shortness. Gotta nip that in the bud." Michael said.

"She... can't be running out whenever she'd like."

Walking forward Michael said, "It's more than that."

"What do you mean?"

Michael sat next to her, shook his head, "You tell me."

"We all have to be careful. This... demon chick is... exciting and new. I don't know what I'm up against."

"If we're in trouble here I could contact the Luna Cult, maybe get them on it..."

"No! No, I-I-I don't want anyone else anywhere near this."

"Just a suggestion." Michael said annoyed.

"Look, the fewer people that are involved, the safer I will feel."

"Every time I think I'm getting close to you..." Michael shook his head. "I gotta take off."

Michael got up; Buffy got up to follow.

"Wait! What?"

Walking toward front door Michael said, "I'll call you later."

"Michael!"

He stopped walking

"I want you to help. I'm not..." Buffy said.

"Yeah. Know you got a lot on your mind. You decide you wanna let me in on any of it..." he opened door, "Let me know. I'll come running."

Michael exited. Buffy looked troubled.

Tara entered her dorm room, and stopped when she saw her dad standing there. He had his arms folded, staring at her roomful of witchy stuff.

"The door wasn't locked. I was a little early." Mr Maclay said and looked around. "I suppose you... wanted me to see all these..." He picked up a large crystal and examined it. "Toys." Mr. Maclay put the crystal down. "You don't even try to hide it any more. I'd hoped maybe you'd gotten over the whole witchcraft thing. That if we let you go, you'd... get it out of your system." He put hands in pockets. "Then they told me to look for you in... that store." He said in a disgusted way.

"I didn't - I, I didn't kn-know that you were coming."

"Of course we came. We haven't heard from you in months. Your birthday's getting closer and closer. You know what that means."

Tara was upset, "I don't think it's... i-i-i-it, it won't mean that..."

"You're turning twenty..." he walked toward her, "it's the same age your mother was when she... Do your friends even know?"

"Y-yes." Tara said softly.

"Are you lying to me?"

Tara looked down.

"Tara, you're coming home with us. You know it's the only way."

"Home?"

"You can't control what's going to happen. You have evil inside of you and it will come out. And letting yourself work all this magic is only going to make it worse. Where do you think that power comes from?

"It... it doesn't feel evil... sir."

"Evil never does."

Tara looked down again, upset.

"I don't feel much like eating right now." He started to walk past her. "I'll give you some time, but we need to be gone by morning."

Mr. Maclay walked to the door. Tara stood there looking sad.

"Your family loves you, Tara, no matter what. How do you think your friends are going to feel when they see your true face?"

Meanwhile Michael had gone over to Willow's with a present for Tara. He knocked on the door and a few moments later Willow answered.

"Hi Michael come on in."

"Thanks."

Michael entered the room and they both sat on Willow's bed.

"Were you looking for me or Tara?"

"You. You see I have this present for both you and Tara and I'm not sure it suitable to give out at Tara's party."

"Oh dear... well let's see what it is."

Michael took a box out of the bag he'd brought and showed it to Willow.

"Hot cock, ha ha ha ha."

"You'll no longer have to worry about cold and clammy dildo's."

"So, how does it work?"

"Well, you stick in the microwave to warm it up."

"Good job we have a microwave."

"You can use it at room temperature. For warm cock – ten seconds, hot cock – twenty seconds." Michael thought for a moment then added, "Burnt lips thirty seconds... I'm sure it will come in handy on cold days."

"I'm sure it will."

"I tried to find you a whistling dildo but couldn't find one."

"A whistling dildo?"

"I'm joking, I made that up."

In her room Tara was starring sadly at some sort of irregularly shaped crystal ball.

Behind her the door opened and Willow entered, Tara didn't turn around.

"Hey." Willow said.

"Hey." Tara said turning to Willow.

"Was dinner fun?" Willow asked.

Tara stood, nodding.

"Well, there's Scoobyage afoot. Giles called a meeting about our spankin' new menace."

"Oh... y-you should go; they don't need me for that. You can fill me in."

Willow walked toward her, "No, no, you have to come. This demon chick is supposed to be really powerful, and I was thinking. Maybe we could try that, that spell, you know, the one to find demons?"

"That didn't work." Tara told her.

"Yeah... but we only tried it once, and I-I think I got some ingredients wrong."

"Well, I-I'm tired. Maybe we can do it tomorrow?"

"You sure you don't wanna..."

"Look, my family's here, okay, I can't just..." Tara paused, "not everything is about your friends and stuff."

Willow made a face, "Sorry."

Willow backed away from Tara, and started walking to the door.

"No! No, I mean..."

Willow turned back.

"There's just so much... going on. It's just... I'm, I'm really tired."

Willow nodded, "Okay."

"I'll see you in the morning. You can fill me in."

"Great. We'll be demon hunters.

Willow then left her lover for the evening.

Tara turned, hunted through some books, picked one up and leafed through it, frowning. She found what she was looking for and looked up from her book with a calculating expression on her face.

Down at the magic shop, Buffy, Anya and Xander were sitting around the table. Dawn was looking at a bookshelf. Willow entered the shop alone.

"Hey. Am I late? Did I miss any exposition?" Willow asked.

"No, no, no, no, nothing earth-shattering to relate." Giles said.

Giles leant his hands on the back of a chair as Willow sat down.

"I just have a few thoughts, and, uh, wanted to make sure that we were all on the same page."

"Can I buy one of these?" Dawn asked.

"No." Buffy said.

"With my own money?"

"I let you come, now sit down and look studious." Buffy said.

Dawn looked annoyed, but walked toward the table anyway and sat down.

"Well, first of all, I want to talk to you about... safety. Um, this creature could be..." Giles started saying.

Unknown to them, Tara was hiding around the corner, listening.

"Will be...." Buffy said but Tara wasn't really listening.

"Will be coming after Buffy, and possibly all of us..." said Giles.

"Blind Cadria, desolate queen, work my will upon them all. Your curse upon them, my obeisance to you." Tara whispered.

Tara held up her hand and blew on it. Red dust flowed out of her hand. Giles sat down with the others around the table. The tendril of red magic floated into the room from Tara's hiding place, toward the table.

"Now, I may have a lead on this monk that Buffy spoke of. There, there are a few orders that I-I've read up on..."

The red dust turned yellow and floated into the middle of the table, then sent out shoots, one for each Willow, Buffy, Dawn, Giles, Anya and Xander. It hit them in the eyes and they all simultaneously flinched back. There was pause, then Giles continued, looking confused.

"I-I'm sorry, where was I?" Giles asked.

"The monk." Buffy reminded him.

"Yes, um, I'd like us all to start looking at these orders, i-it's possible whichever one this monk belonged to was wiped out entirely..."

His voice faded out of earshot as Tara retreated backward, watching them.

In Spike's crypt, Spike sat in his armchair holding a mannequin head with the long blonde wig, caressing its cheek. The door opened and he quickly hid the head under his chair as Harmony entered, carrying several shopping bags.

"Hi baby!" Harmony said.

"Hello, sweetbreads. Have fun?" Spike asked in a bored voice.

"Uhh, it was so exciting. You wouldn't believe it. I went to April Fool's, and absolutely everything was on sale."

"You paid for it?" Spiked asked incredulously.

"Oh, no. I just killed the clerk. Still, a bargain's a bargain." Harmony said unpacking her bags.

Spike frowned and shook his head.

"Oh, I ran into Carol Beets. You know. She sired Brandon, Brandon from the sewer gang... and she said, the Lei-Ach demon was recruiting his brethren to kill the Slayer!" Harmony said happily.

Suddenly paying attention Spike said, "How's that?"

"Apparently, he got recruited by some big nether-wig and now he's on a mission."

Spike was looking thoughtful, if the Lei-Ach demons were going to kill Buffy, Spike wanted to be there.

"You think they might actually do it? Kill her?" Harmony asked.

Pondering this Spike said, "God, that would be... pleasant."

"Well, if they do, I think we should do something...." Harmony said.

Spike jumped up.

"... like a gift basket or something." She finished.

Spike grabbed his jacket.

"Where are you going?"

"To get a decent seat." Spike said putting on jacket. "If the Slayer's gonna die... I'm gonna watch."

Spike exited his crypt.

Meanwhile in the same cemetery Michael was busy slaying some vampires.

A vampire charged at Michael, but he fired of a bolt of Black Lightning at the vampire, sending it into a tomb. Michael drew one of his swords and advanced on the vampire. The vampire got to its feet and swung a flurry of punches at Michael, but Michael dodged them all. He then swung his in an arc and cut the vampire's head off.

Michael spotted another vampire a short way off and fired another lance of Black Lightning at the vampire. The magic hit the vampire and wrapped around him, Michael used his 'Lightning lasso' to pull the vampire towards him. As the vampire flew towards him, Michael impaled it on his sword.

Michael looked about him; he got out the Blade of Dusk when he saw another vampire on the approach. Michael threw the Blade of Dusk at the vampire; the knife hit the vampire directly in the heart and reduced it to dust.

Michael walked to where the vampire had been and retrieved the Blade of Dusk.

Michael looked up when he heard someone behind him; he saw Spike walking along.

"Spike..."

Spike stopped and turned to watch Michael approach him.

"Spike, out for a night time stroll?" Michael asked.

"What do you want?" Spike asked.

"Off to cause trouble somewhere?" Michael asked.

"Just out for a wander, not that it's any of your bloody business."

With that Spike stalked off, leaving Michael standing in the cemetery.

Michael decided to follow Spike and find out where he was off to. Being the Mage of Shadows it was easy for Michael to move in the darkness without being seen.

Tara was walking across the campus; she looked over her shoulder several times. Then she saw Beth approaching from the opposite direction. Beth looked surprised and pleased when she saw Tara.

"Tara." Beth said as she caught up.

"Beth, what are you..."

"I-I was looking for you."

"I'm sorry we didn't get to have dinner."

"I just... wanted to see if everything was okay."

Tara smiled.

"See if you needed any help with anything. Packing."

Tara stopped smiling, "Beth, I'm not, I'm n-not c-coming back with you."

"You're not?"

"I-I don't think so."

"You... selfish bitch!

"What?!"

"You don't care the slightest bitty bit about your family, do you? Your Dad's been worried sick about you every day since you've been gone. There's a, a house that needs taking care of... Donny and your dad having to do for themselves while you're down here living God knows what kind of lifestyle."

Tara looked upset at hearing this.

"I can't wait till your little friends find out the truth about you. And they will, you know. No matter how innocent you act, they'll see."

"No they won't." Tara said firmly.

"They will. Unless you... do some kind of spell on them..." Beth saw Tara's face. "You did!"

"N-no!"

"You did something to them. I'm telling your father."

She started to turn away. Tara grabbed her arm.

"No! No, it wasn't anything!"

"You think you can just go around cursing people? Your Dad's gonna pop."

"It was just so they wouldn't see. So-so-so they wouldn't see the demon part of me." Tearfully Tara said. "Please don't tell Dad. It's harmless."

Back at the magic shop Buffy was in the workout room, doing some stretches on the floor.

In the main part of the shop Willow took a book off a shelf, and there was a knock on the door.

"Tara?"

Willow went to the door and opened it. Standing outside were three Lei-Ach demons standing there, snarling, Willow didn't see them. She looked around the doorway in confusion, then closed the door and turned away.

"I thought I heard something." Willow said to herself.

She shrugged and walked off. What she didn't see was the door open again and the three Lei-Ach demons come in.

Back on campus Tara still sat on a bench while Beth scolded her.

"Don't you see how out of control you are? You've been lying to these people for a year, and now you've put a spell on them, is that right?" Beth asked shaking her head. "Is that a human thing to do? Now I'm telling your father. If he doesn't force you to come home, and I think he should, I know he's going to tell your friends the truth. If I were you, I'd tell them first. And then I'd tell them good-bye."

In the magic shop Dawn was playing with a glass snow-ball, shaking it to make the snowflakes move. A Lei-Ach demon came up right behind her, but she didn't notice. Another demon walked toward the table, where Anya was stacking up some books.

"Do I get paid overtime for this?" Anya asked.

Anya got up and walked right past the demon, not noticing it.

"Certainly not." Giles said walking past the same demon as a second demon joined it. "Dawn, would you close the door?"

Willow and Xander were sitting at the table, studying books as the two demons walked past them, staring at them.

"I didn't open it." Dawn complained, but closed it anyway.

The lead demon turned, sniffing, and extended its tongue as it moved off toward the back.

Buffy was in the workout room, punching a punch bag. She paused to do some arm stretches. The demons walked in behind her. Buffy frowned and looked toward the door, but saw no one, the room was empty, there were no demons.

Buffy turned back to the punch bag, doing some shoulder rolls, making a face as if she was sore. The lead demon came up behind her.

Suddenly Buffy whirled around and blocked as the demon tried to grab her. Buffy fell to the floor with the demon on top of her.

"Giles!" Buffy called.

Buffy was on the floor with her hands in front of her, pushing at the demon, but she couldn't see the demon.

In the main shop Giles got up from his desk as Buffy yelled.

"Something's in here!" They heard Buffy call.

Xander got up as well; he rushed toward the back of the shop. The third demon stopped him before he reached the doorway, grabbed him by the upper arms as he struggled.

Willow got up, staring in confusion, she saw Xander struggling against what looked like empty air.

Dawn ran up behind Giles.

Xander flew backward as the demon threw him across the room; he landed on his back on the floor, grabbing at his neck, trying to grab the demon's hands as it choked him. Anya turned from the bookshelf and came forward.

Willow grabbed a chair and Anya grabbed some kind of crystal ball on a stick from the counter.

Willow used the chair to whack at the area on top of Xander, he sighed as the demon let go of his neck.

"Where'd it go?" Anya called.

Willow looked around, and suddenly went flying backward, she landed on a table and slid along it sideways and off the end, taking the teapot and mugs with her as she went.

Giles pushed Dawn toward his desk.

"Under there, go." Giles said.

"Willow?" Dawn said confused and crawled under the desk.

Buffy was still wrestling with the first demon. The workout room door opened and Spike entered, smiling. Buffy broke out of the demon's grasp and shoved it backward, off of her. As she stood up, the second demon grabbed her around the waist from behind. Spike stopped smiling as the first demon got up. Spike rolled his eyes in exasperation and hurried forward, he tackled the first demon and pulled it aside, landing on the floor on his back with the demon on top of him.

Buffy punched the second demon over her shoulder, then flipped it, grabbed it and shoved it against the wall. It slumped down and was still.

From Buffy's point of view the training room was completely empty. She rushed toward the door. Spike was still on the floor with the demon in a stranglehold.

"You're welcome!" Spike said, but Buffy didn't see him.

The demon punched Spike in the face.

Buffy entered the main shop area and ran forward.

"Where'd it go?!" Anya asked swinging her weapon around randomly.