How Come The Bad Ones Never Stay Dead?

By Sojogogo

Rating: PG-13

Summary: In response to challenge 3043 (from twisting the Hellmouth website), a crossover with Practical Magic. Willow learns that she's adopted when she turns 18. She decides to head for New England to meet her biological mother, Gillian Owens… reluctant witch.

Notes: I first saw 'Practical Magic' way back when it came out because I'm a fan of Sandra Bullock's. Well done movie, but basically a one or two timer for me. I did like it enough that I read the book. The book was boring, the movie was so much better. Needless to say, I'm taking a LOT of creative liberties here because I haven't seen the movie in forever. (I admit now… a few years later than I did rewatch the movie as I wrote this so I knew where to follow it.)

Special Note: A huge thank you to NCC-1973 who saved this story from the brink of extinction – I thought I had saved this story – but I hadn't. They had an I'm very grateful they did.

Disclaimer: BtVS is owned by Joss. Practical Magic is owned by Alice Hoffman.

ooooooo

Maria's Island, New England

It was early morning as the ferry pulled in to dock at the pier to Maria's Island. It was fall, chilly, cold and windy.

Two figures, both slight young women height stepped down the docking ramp onto the pier dressed in thick sweaters that looked brand new. The two of them shivered and the crew and natives of the land there watched them, honestly bundles up that much they had to be tourists to their small island. Both of them carried a few pieces of luggage, but that was it.

"Miss, you do realize there are no inns on the island," the captain said once again.

"We know, we're expected," the blond replied, she called herself Buffy as her redheaded companion wiped her nose covering it as she sneezed. They looked her way as it hit three more times. "You okay Will?" she asked.

Willow nodded as she wiped her nose a little. "Something in the air here," she told her friend."

"There is a lot of history on this island," the captain said as the two went onto the dock.

"We read a bit about it before we came," Buffy told him as Willow wiped her eyes and sneezed again.

"Maybe it's hay fever," Willow said as the two walked along the sidewalks looking at the buildings and houses. They had seen them from the ferry but…

"Wow, these are like ancient old," Buffy replied looking them over as the citizens of the town looked them over as they continued on their way. Out west the houses were newer, as in late 20th century compared to early 17th century for most of these places.

"For America, yeah," Willow said wiping her nose again. "This place is so different," she whispered. "I feel different."

Buffy smiled as she put her arm in Willow's. "Your mom lives here, your real mom, hopefully caring mom lives here."

Willow blushed and smiled a little at that. Sheila and Ira had been absent again from her eighteenth birthday at the end of their High School Senior year. In a way it was a good thing. They had blown up the school to stop the Mayor from ascending to massive demon form and they didn't get killed, turned or eaten.

Bad thing, she and Oz had broken up. He decided it was time to travel, see the world with the band while she had decided to stay on at Sunnydale UC for college and to help Buffy.

Xander was road tripping the states for the summer and he told them he'd try to get up there in time to meet her family before they left for California, but there were no promises.

Cordy had moved on to L.A., so it was just her and Buffy. And the chance to go to New England for the summer while Giles and Angel watched the Hellmouth the Slayer couldn't pass up. After Buffy came back Angel would be leaving for L.A. as well.

Growing up sucked sometimes.

"Picket fences, no palm trees…" Buffy muttered as they walked down the road towards the residential areas of the island. "Oceany taste in the air, but not a sunny, let's lay out on the beach and tan type of warm."

"More of a let's bundle up and stay pale chilly type of cold?" Willow replied and the two friends smiled at each other.

"Which could explain your pale wanness, Will," Buffy replied noting that Willow didn't tan, she burned. The redhead was just destined to be pale.

"Is wanness a word though?" Willow asked then she stilled and sneezed again, this time the leaves on the trees shifted even though she was facing the ground.

"Wiggy," Buffy said noticing this.

Willow waved her hand in front of her face 'trying' to get herself to stop sneezing. "Maybe there's something here I'm allergic to," she got out as she covered her mouth and nose with her hand.

"Maybe," Buffy replied as she watched the people watching them and the area. Willow was a budding witch. And she had learned from experience that NOTHING odd happened without a reason for it to happen. She decided to be on her guard.

ooooooo

Gillian Owens sat down in a chair at the kitchen table shakily putting a cigarette in her mouth as her sister Sally paced around trying to figure out what to do in the grand old manor house Sally and her daughters and their aunts lived in. At the current time it was her and Sally staying there. The Aunts had taken the daughters on a short sabbatical while Sally had gone to get her from the South.

It was because of Jimmy Angelov that Sally had come. He had fought with Gillian a few days ago Sally came to get her. Jimmy, didn't want to let her go and had forced Sally to drive the three of them, to who knew where.

Gillian had been feeding Jimmy bits of belladonna to calm him down every so often during the time they had been together. During this hostage situation Sally had dumped the whole bottle of belladonna into the bottle of booze Jimmy had and the overdose had killed him.

It was in self-defense of course… not that the police would see it that way, so she devised a plan and the two of them brought him all the way back to the Owens' home in New England. They brought him back to life only to have him try and strangle her to death and Sally had to kill him again with a cast iron frying pan to the head. That night, last night they had buried him. Now, everything should be okay.

"Everything's fine now," Gillian told her as she lit her cigarette and took in a deep lungful of carcinogens and blew them out. She calmed down just from that. "He's buried, everything okay."

Sally turned to look at her with the glare of death. Her dark brown eyes were always so serious, even as children. Even over a year after the death of her husband Michael and two young daughters to raise, it was more so.

"Okay?" Sally said raising her voice. "Okay? We have a man buried in the backyard. The Aunts have the girls for a few more days before their back," she dropped that off as she paced again putting her hand to her forehead trying to think harder.

"They don't know everything," Gillian told her as she blew out a bit of smoke again and Sally turned the look on her and Gillian scowled. The Aunts did know, how in the hell they knew she didn't know. She didn't want to know, being a witch was not something she wanted to know. And she sure as hell wasn't going to believe in curses.

"What are we going to do, Gilly?" Sally asked sitting down across from her she took her cigarette and inhaled a big puff only to cough a bit of it out.

Gillian never got a chance to replied as there was a knock at the door. The sisters looked to each other. "They wouldn't knock," Gillian replied thinking about the Aunts, and no one else came to the 'cursed' Owens home, not to a witches house.

"It's not them, it's probably the FBI or the State Police," Sally said getting up and heading to the front door.

Gillian followed behind her worriedly. "You don't just let them in then!" she told her sister's back as she watched Sally look out the side window, peering through the curtains.

"Not them," Sally muttered with a concerned look on her face as she went to the front door as there was another knock.

Gillian took in another puff of smoke as she looked out warily to see two young women, teenagers standing at the door. One was a short blond girl, cheerleader, west coast from the looks of her. She stilled when she saw the redhead by her.

"Oh my god," she whispered as she dropped her cigarette after a big inhale of smoke and stamped it out as Sally opened the door.

"Can I help you?" Sally asked looking to the two girls. Her brows drew in a little more when she saw the redhead. She felt a flashback of her sister as a teen with that color of hair.

The redhead opened her mouth only to have a squeak come out and the blond rolled her eyes a little. "We're looking for Gillian Owens?" the blond told her.

Sally looked them over again, they were WAY too young to be feds. "Mind if I ask why?" she replied as Gillian came to the doorway pushing her sister a little out of the way. Sally looked at her like she was crazy, she relented realizing that she was starting to think her sister WAS crazy.

"Willow?" Gillian asked nervously.

The redhead blinked looking to the older woman. There was a bit of a wriggle of nervousness that was all too much like Sally from she was a teenager. "Mom?" the redhead, Willow, replied.

"Oh my god, oh my god," Gillian said stepping out onto the porch pulling the teen into her arms and hugging her tight. "You came, I didn't think you would, oh my god."

Sally was a little stunned. She remembered in the back of her mind, her wild sister getting pregnant, but Gillian wouldn't let her tell the Aunts, Gillian had left home for a few month at the end of her junior year in high school only to return looking as fit as ever and with no child in her arms saying it was done. What was done she wasn't sure at the time, but Gillian got wilder from then on.

Sally found herself sitting in a chair in the hallway with the blond at her side who had apparently helped her get seated there instead of on the floor where she had been standing. "You okay?" the blond asked.

Sally nodded. "Wow, that's just a little sudden."

The blond smiled as they saw Willow just soaking up the attention, her face was buried in Gillian's neck and her arms were about her as Gillian babbled non-stop into Willow's hair that she was there.

"Are you related in some way too?" Sally asked looking at her.

The blond laughed. "Nope, best friend. Came for summer break before college."

Sally nodded as she looked to her sister and her… niece in the doorway. Maybe the day wasn't so bad after all. Then she remembered the body in the backyard.

ooooooo

Willow sat down on the couch by Gillian as Sally went to get them all a drink. "How did you know it was me?" Willow asked as Gillian held her hand, the older woman's smile was so bright.

"Pictures," Gillian replied. "I asked that just one picture be sent from each birthday. And if you wanted to see me when you were eighteen then it was okay for you to know."

Sally came out with iced tea. "When did you turn eighteen, Willow?" she asked.

"Four weeks ago," Willow replied taking the glass from her aunt. "We had high school graduation before we could come out though. The papers said that we could contact you here."

Sally looked to Gillian, the redheaded sister hadn't lived here in a long time, not since high school days. Usually it was only a visit or a stop through on to her next adventure. "We're glad you could come then," she told her niece. "Our Aunts and my daughters are away for a few days, but they would be happy to meet you."

Willow nodded at this with a smile. "I was really shocked to hear about you from my parents lawyer," she told them.

Gillian looked curious. "Why didn't your parents tell you?" she asked.

Buffy rolled her eyes and snorted a little into her drink trying to hold back a laugh. Willow winced a little as she looked to them. "They're sorta busy."

"Busy not being there," Buffy replied when Willow was quiet.

The Owens sisters frowned. "Not being parents?" Sally asked as she sat down by them with her drink.

"Sunnydale's… just an odd town, people forget things. My parents, mostly just loved to travel and work," Willow replied looking into her mostly full glass of tea.

Gillian shook her head. "But they promised to raise you well. They sent pictures…" she stopped as she remembered that she had to write to ask for most of them from Willow's high school years. "High School's not easy to get through," she told her daughter.

Willow shrugged. "I have Buffy's mom, Joyce… Mrs. Summers. And there's Giles, he's like a dad to me and Buffy and Xander."

"Xander?" Sally asked.

"He's the other part of our group," Buffy said. "He decided to road trip this summer, but he's going to drop by if he can make it up here before we have to go back to get ready for college."

"Your parents aren't there though," Gillian replied with a frown.

"I'm going to be in a dorm anyway… M-Mom," Willow replied. "Buffy and I are rooming together, and Joyce and Giles aren't that far away."

Gillian shook her head. "They promised."

Willow and Buffy looked to each other and the sisters noticed it. Sally stood up. "Why don't I show you two to a room and we'll about dinner and let you get settled in."

ooooooo

Gillian watched from where Sally was looking in the fridge for what to feed her niece and friend. "You could have told me," she told her sister. "Let me see a picture or two."

Gillian rolled her eyes as she found another cigarette, she put it in her mouth then thought about her daughter upstairs and put it away, she'd smoke outside. "I just didn't want to talk about her. I'd remember the stupid mistake I made that formed into a beautiful child I wasn't capable of raising. One day a year… one day I'd let myself grieve and be happy she was growing up and happy, then I would let it go." She looked angry. "They swore to me she would be loved, protected, cared for. I wouldn't of given them to her if they didn't. I-," she stilled as the tears came. "I didn't want her to be like us."

Sally looked her way from searching through the cupboards. "We have the Aunts."

Gillian shook her head looking her way. "You know it's not the same. I love the Aunts, but given a choice…" She took a cigarette out and lit it inhaling deep to relieve the stress.

Sally nodded, she would have taken her parents over them too.

ooooooo

Buffy sat on the bed in the 'lighthouse' section of the house, it was way up at the top and you could see everything from up there. Willow was refolding a shirt for the fourth time. "You okay Will?" she asked.

Willow nodded as she looked her way. "I look a lot like her, don't I?"

Buffy smiled. "You do. Classic beauty, put Cordy to shame."

Willow smiled back as she put the shirt away and sat by her friend. "She's sad," she commented on her mom.

Buffy nodded at this, she saw it too. "They're both sad."

Willow sighed as she sat up a little. "Does this house feel weird to you?"

Buffy shook her head as she looked to her curiously. "In what way?"

"Vibey kind of way," Willow replied as she laid back on the bed. "Hellmouthy but a good vibe. Like my veins are full of sparkles."

"You are in full action mode from the excitement," Buffy said laying down by her. She felt a little tired, it had been a long trip.

Willow nodded as she held up her hand and thought about what was in her mind for a moment then light forming in the cup of her hand. "New one Will?" Buffy asked.

"Nope, just thought it," Willow replied. She waved and the light was gone. "I think it's magic I feel here."

Buffy sighed. "Giles said wild stuff went in the past here, hangings and all that."

"You think it's like a magical nexus or something?" Willow asked.

"As long as your magical whatsis isn't a hellmouth then I'm okay," Buffy replied tiredly.

Willow smiled at that.

It was a good hour later that Gillian knocked on the door and opened it slightly when there was no answer to see that the two girls were sound asleep on one of the beds. She smiled and closed the door behind her.

ooooooo

It was getting close to three in the afternoon, about four hours after Gillian checked in on the girls that Buffy and Willow came down the stairs looking through the house, making sure not to pry into any bedrooms, but the architecture of the house was so not California. It was an OLD house.

They went down four flights of stairs to come to the foyer to hear Sally and Gillian talking in the kitchen. The smells come from there were good though, both of them were hungry.

"… I just don't want the girls knowing about it," Sally was saying as the two came through into the kitchen.

They looked their way and the two teenagers looked back. "We can leave if we need to," Buffy said.

Sally shook her head as Gillian stood up from the table, there was a cigarette in her hand but unlit. "Of course not," Gillian said motioning them to sit down.

Sally was looking to Gillian but she let it go and sighed with a smile to her niece and niece's friend. "Are you hungry?"

They both nodded and the two older women got plates and food on. "Do you drink?" Gillian asked holding up a bottle of wine.

"Gilly, eighteen, not twenty-eight," Sally reminded her.

"We drank when we were their age," Gillian replied back as she sat the wine down on the table while Sally got a pitcher of iced tea from the fridge.

"Really?" Willow asked as Sally motioned for them to dig in.

Gillian smiled with a sly grin. "Well I did mostly, your Aunt Sally could be a stick in the mud once in a while."

Sally rolled her eyes at that as she passed Buffy the bowl of mashed potatoes and moved the wine away from Willow so it was between her and Gillian. "Yes, I was the horrible, boring one in the family, considering the Aunts and you." She stuck her tongue out at Gillian and looked to the girls who were smiling. "So where are you going to college?"

"Sunnydale University," Willow told her. "It's the local one."

Gillian grimaced at this. "Why do you want to stay at home? You should get out and see the world. Meet new people… meet new boys." She smiled at Willow who was next to her. "You could come to a university near here." She wiggled her eyebrows at her and Willow's eyebrows went up. Her parents never acted as carefree as her biological mother.

"I-, I was accepted to a few around here, but Buffy… and Xander," she said glancing at Buffy, they couldn't tell her newfound mother and aunt about the Slayer and her being a witch. "They're my family." She stopped and blushed at the two women. "N-not that you aren't!" she told them. "I-, I just don't know you yet."

Sally smiled as Gillian patted Willow's hand. "It's okay, you've only known me… us a day," Gillian replied. "But you need to get out. And school-," she made a face.

Willow looked blankly at her not understanding only to have Buffy laugh as she took up her glass to take a drink. "Will's the bookworm in our group, she got accepted to colleges all over the world. She was our high school valedictorian."

Sally's eyes lit up at that and Gillian looked stunned at Willow then nodded at her with a knowing look. "I'll have to show you some places then to get that nasty learning bug out of you."

Sally shook her head as they talked, Gillian was not a student, she was a C average only because Sally would nag her to do her homework. Willow and Buffy told them about Xander, and Buffy's mom, and the Bronze while Sally told them about her two daughters Kylie and Antonia ages ten and seven.

"What about my Aunts?" Willow asked. "I mean great-aunts?"

Sally and Gillian looked to each other. "Yeah," Sally said making a tight face. "They are something to be experienced all by themselves." Gillian nodded in agreement.

"And my grandparents? Your parents?" Willow asked looking at them. They hadn't mentioned them once. The sisters looked to each other again.

"They both died when we were young," Gillian told her.

"I'm sorry," Willow said looking worried. "I shouldn't-."

Sally smiled cutting her off. "You should of, they're your grandparents, you should know these things," she was finished with her midday meal, so were the others and she stood up to clear the table. Willow and Buffy both offered to help but Sally shook her head. "Not on the first night, you're still visitors, Gilly will help me." She looked to her sister who sighed but followed her along.

"Do you mind if we look around?" Willow asked as house was packed with odds and ends out of American history books.

"Sure," Gillian said motioning to them to run along while it seemed like she and her sister were going to talk seriously again.

Sally gave her a look motioning behind the girls backs 'charading' to her sister with her hands in the form of a book and jabbing her finger viciously towards the Conservatory. Gillian's eyes went wide at this, Sally watched the two girls as she quietly snuck out of the room towards the Conservatory where the Aunts' spell book was kept so she could hide it while Gillian kept watch to make sure they didn't go that way.

The two girls fortunately went into the parlor room first none the wiser as to the older women's actions, they had seen this room when they first came but there were so many things going on they never had a chance to look around.

"Your family's been here a long time," Buffy told her friend as she looked to the portraits and pointed to an emblem in an old embroidery that had been framed. "Is that a tentacle?"

Willow smiled at her friend knowing she was trying to ease her nerves, but nodded as she came up closer to it inspect it. "Pentacle you doof, doesn't automatically mean witches."

Buffy looked to her. "Do you think there is some truth to what Giles told us about the island?" she whispered as they looked to the other old fashioned things there. Most of it the two west coasters had only heard about, never seen.

"Maria Owens, hanged for being a witch," Willow whispered back. "He thought it was because she was pregnant out of wedlock. There's no freaky hellmouthy activity here, not that anything's ever been recorded about it."

"Doesn't mean it didn't," Buffy said giving her a look. "Is it me? Or is it just a touch crazy that all your ancestors born are women and go by the name Owens? Sorta Charmed typed stuff going on." She referred to the television show the three of them watched when slaying was slow.

Willow looked curious then worried. "Do you think they are witches?" she asked.

Buffy sighed. "If they are then we'll find out, maybe they'll help you."

Willow nodded as they moved along through the house. Of course Willow was drawn to the Conservatory. She opened the doors and her eyes lit up as she went down the small steps into the greenhouse. "Goddess," she whispered. The leaves on the plants shivered as she stepped down in. She looked to Buffy who stood in the doorway. "It's incredible."

Buffy's Slayer senses were going wild in here, this was definitely not your average greenhouse. But as she watched Willow she saw the redhead just shine, this was her element, as if she had come home. Sally came up behind her and Buffy glanced her way over her shoulder. "That's a lot of plants," Buffy told her as Willow touched each one.

Sally nodded, her brown eyes just locked on how the plants reacted to her niece. They loved her. Usually it was her Aunt Jet that they loved. Did Willow know who the Owens were?

Gillian came up behind her looking over the shoulders of the other two, it was easier since she was the tallest of the three. "What's going on?" she asked only to smile as she saw Willow taking in everything in the room just like she had done when she was young and had moved in with the Aunts. She pushed past the other two and went into the room.

Willow looked up to see her mother come her way and she smiled. "Have these always been here?" she asked excitedly trying to look at everything all at once.

Gillian nodded with a nervous smile. "The Aunts love to garden."

Willow went over to the cabinets where the plants were prepared and made, and the Aunts' Book of Shadows was normally kept. "Are they herbalists?" she asked as she looked to the bottles. So many spell components here, Giles would be delighted to have most of this stuff at his beck and call, so would she.

"Something like that," Gillian said putting an arm around her shoulders she drew her away from it gently. "Why don't we take a walk downtown and see your Aunt Sally's shop and get some ice cream?" She looked to Sally who nodded in agreement. Going out was better than having them roam around finding things they shouldn't.

Buffy and Willow looked to each other but nodded. "How about coffee?" Willow asked as they went to get their jackets.

"Nuh uh, not for you," Buffy reminded her as they went out the front doors.

"Why not?" Gillian asked, her arm about Willow's shoulders and Willow was loving it.

"Willow and coffee equals no sleep coupled with total hyperness," Buffy replied. "Then complete crash and burn."

"Ah, I thought it was just Gillian," Sally said walking beside the blond girl. "Seems it's inherited."

Buffy looked to Willow who shook her head as they walked down the path toward the town. "I can handle one cup," Willow told her as she daringly slipped an arm around her mother's waist. She had only met the woman today but it seemed so natural to let her touch her.

Buffy shook her head. "Alright but if you stay awake all night I'm putting her in your room," she motioned to Gillian who didn't look sad at that.

"You want two hyperactives in the same room?" Sally stage whispered to her. Gillian and Willow gave her the same scowl.

They strolled along and Willow looked to Gillian. "Can I ask," she asked softly and Gillian looked her way, "who my father is?"

Gillian made a little face trying to think of what to tell her. "He was a wonderful boy who didn't want anything to do with me or you," she told her. Sally gave her a look not to lie and Gillian sighed, being honest was hard. Sally knew the truth and Sally rarely lied about anything. "Honestly, my darling daughter?" she said. "I never told him, he moved away before the school year was over and I never looked for him-."

Sally cleared her throat and Gillian scowled at her. "Fine, your father could be about five different boys-."

Sally cleared her throat again. "Maybe ten-," Gillian started.

Sally did it once again and Gillian huffed. "Okay, we'd have to test every male within a five year range of me! Are you happy now?" she complained to her sister.

"Thank you," Sally replied calmly for her telling the full truth.

"But what does matter," Gillian said seeing the stricken look on Willow's face. "Is that when you were born, I wanted the best for you. I couldn't do it, I couldn't give that to you. You were born out of love," she whispered and kissed Willow's forehead. "Don't forget that part."

Sally nodded at this too and Buffy was happy to see that Willow accepted that. They reached the main 'strip' of shopping in the town only this time Buffy and Willow noticed that while they had gotten stares for being out of towners, they were now getting other stares. Scared or spiteful stares.

Buffy looked at herself. "I am dressed right? No crazy dreams where I'm walking around town naked?"

Sally sighed and Gillian scowled at the people holding Willow closer to her as if she could protect her from what she knew would come. "No, the people in the town still believe the old wives' tales of the island," Sally replied as she motioned to the shop, Verbena Botanicals. Her assistants Carla and Patty were running it that day and the four went in.

"Well, we thought you'd be out all day," Patty told her, she was a heavyset woman with a good humor about her.

"Still am, came in to show my niece and her friend around then maybe go over to the Parlor for ice cream," Sally said. "Or coffee, we're still deciding."

The two women looked at the young girls both sets of eyes sliding to Willow then Gillian then back, the two girls were looking at the items in the shop. They saw the same build, red hair and paleness in Willow, she was an Owens. "I didn't know you had a daughter," Carla said. She looked like a transplant from New York or Los Angeles with her slim figure, black dresses and spiky but somewhat stylish hair.

"Who did?" Sally bit out at her sister with just a little sarcasm as she went to show the girls what she had. Well, she did, but she was kept in the dark about Gillian knowing anything about her.

Willow turned their way and Gillian smiled. "This is Willow. My daughter."

"Willow," Patty said with a kind chuckle. "Fitting for an Owens."

Willow looked to Gillian confused but Sally turned her back to the shelves. "Just like the old wives tales," she whispered in reminder to her niece.

Willow nodded at this still confused but as they perused Sally's shop she found a container of salts; she looked surprised at the ingredients then she looked at the price tag and blanched. Buffy looked with her and nodded.

"If they're that good, it's worth it," she whispered to her knowing from her shopping sprees that high end, non factory made items were expensive.

"If what's good?" Sally said peering over them to look at it.

They looked at her and Willow handed over the jar of salts. "I- I've never th-, seen salts with a base of thistle and calendula put in it. Is it blessed?"

Sally blinked at this and the other three women looked her way. Buffy smiled. "She's big on the natural bath products."

Sally nodded just a little. "It is blessed. It's good for lots of skin problems." Willow nodded back as Buffy quickly picked up another bottle.

"Oh look, lets get some chamomile and lemongrass soap," Buffy said trying to defuse what was going on.

"It's used for aging skin," Sally said tearing her eyes from her niece to look at Buffy and the soap. She gently took it from the blond and put it back on the counter. "How about some linden flower and licorice bath oil?" She said holding up a small bottle as she watched Willow who was chewing on her lower lip looking Buffy's way.

"Sounds great," Buffy replied. Willow winced at that.

Gillian looked confused at all of this. "She doesn't want that. Linden flower is for old people…" she stopped as she looked to the two young women. "Did you know that?" she asked Willow.

Willow shifted a little as Buffy looked a little put out. "I'm eighteen, that's old." The older women made faces of 'only the young', at that.

Sally put the bath oil back. "She's almost right, it's for releaving shingles among other things."

Willow made a face as she looked to Buffy then to Sally who was still watching. "I read a lot," Willow told her. "Linden flower and licorice are both for viruses in older people."

Buffy opened her mouth a few times then made a face. "Okay, not so much with that kind aging there. What do you have for an eighteen year old who's going to be dropped into to the pit of endless adulthood and school for the next four years?"

Gillian made a face. "I'd get shingles from that alone just to get out of it." Willow looked to her mother as if she said the most horrific thing ever.

Sally blinked at all of this then began to laugh letting the seriousness of the mood go. The others joined in as she selected out something for Buffy then gave Willow the salts she had picked out from the beginning.

ooooooo

Ten at night the same day…

Sally looked out over the garden from the kitchen as Gillian came in quietly.

"They're upstairs getting ready for bed," Gillian said sitting down by her sister. "What was that with Willow?" They hadn't talked about the incident the rest of the evening. It had been good hearted fun, even when Buffy begged Gillian not to get Willow the mocha milkshake. It hadn't worked.

Sally shook her head, she had chewed her thumbnail raw looking out over the garden. "I made those salts for a woman… a witch," she told Gillian looking her way. "Blessed thistle and calendula are for protection. I think Willow knew this."

Gillian 'pffted' in disbelief at her as she dug into the fridge for something to drink. "She's eighteen, her parents, the Rosenbergs," Gillian said laced with anger at them leaving their daughter alone for who knew how long. "They aren't witches, they're Jewish. They raised her Jewish." Sally looked curious at that. "I saw her photos, the mitzah ones," Gillian replied to the look as she found a bottle of wine.

"Bat mitzvah," Sally absentmindedly corrected her. "Jewish?"

Gillian shrugged. "They were a good couple, they wanted her. What does it matter?"

Sally rolled her eyes at that. "What matters is that I think Willow knew what those salts were for." Gillian gave her a look of 'so what?'. Sally sighed. "It makes me think that my children are going to grow up as hopeless and out of love as we are if an Owens woman that grows up on the other side of the country still finds out about magic."

Gillian knew how much Sally didn't want anything to do with magic. Not since her husband died, the 'curse' of the Owens' women. That any husband would die too young, too soon. The tell-tale chirp of the deathwatch cricket was the sign. Sally had heard it, their mother probably had too.

"You think we should ask her?" Gillian asked. Sally looked her way but Gillian looked excited. "It would be great, you know? Something in common-," she started but Sally gave her a look of confusion.

"In common? You don't want to have magic in common!" Sally said seriously. "Love, respect, magic is just some stupid…" she was so upset it took her a minute to think of a word. "nightmare to ruin your life,- her life!" Sally said looking at her sister. "Do you really want that for her?"

Gillian looked less than pleased. "No, but the Aunts-," she started again.

"The Aunts are as loveless as us, Gilly!" Sally reminded her. "No, I keep my girls from it and if you're smart you'll keep Willow from it as well. Maybe just one Owens can get away from it!"

Gillian shook her head. "I like magic. I like what it brings. The freedom, the power to be who I want!" she said getting up from the table she took a long drink from the wine bottle and headed for the parlor room. Sally followed her.

"And where has it gotten you if it's so goddamned wonderful?" Sally asked. "Where has it gotten me? It ruined my life!"

"Well it hasn't ruined mine!" Gillian told her.

"You've never been in love! The most you've been in love tried to kill you and is buried in the backyard!" Sally yelled back at her. They were both silent at the bitter truth hurled out there.

Gillian became angry at this reminder of her bad choices over the years. "Maybe I don't want to be in love so I don't lose them!" she told her sister trying to hurt her back before she stormed off outside into the garden and Sally berated herself for what she said as she followed.

"Gilly," Sally replied. "Gilly, it's- it's just better to leave it alone. Be a normal person."

Gillian took another long drink from the bottle and laughed sadly. "I'm not normal, Sal. I'm an Owens, you're an Owens. We're laughed at, scorned, hated all over the island and I left, I fled! I went to the state closest to Willow and look at me!" she told her sister loudly spreading her arms out for her to look at her as she realized that the girls were upstairs and might hear her, so she went in closer to her sister. "Look at me, Sally. I've got a daughter that I've met for the first time today," she whispered as tears came. "I've got my abusive lover buried under my feet, and I have my sister that thinks I'm a whore for not settling down looking at me like I'm crazy."

Sally shook her head as she hugged Gillian close to her. "I never thought that, Gilly," she said softly to her as she stroked her hair.

"I was so close but I never got up the courage to go see her," Gillian whispered sadly into Sally's shoulder. "They weren't there for her, and neither was I. I used my magic to get what I wanted, but not what was needed."

Sally hugged her tightly looking to the sky wishing they really were just normal people. Having magic was a curse.

ooooooo

Midnight in the outskirts of town…

The two had just walked for the better part of an hour after slipping quietly out of the house and began to patrol the area. It was habit, Buffy didn't sleep well unless she patrolled her area at least once. That and Willow had two cups of coffee and a mocha milkshake. She was wired.

"So what's the up with the flowers and stuff at Sally's place?" Buffy asked as Willow strode next to her, both were wrapped up in their warm sweaters and Buffy swore she was never moving to someplace cold no matter where evil was, it was just too much for a California girl to live like that.

Willow shrugged a little. "I guess my mind just went into overdrive, I saw what was in them and my wicca brain started thinking of all of the things they could be used for."

Buffy gave her a curious look. "Like what?"

"Protection mostly," Willow said as they sat down side by side on a large rock about a quarter of a mile from the Owens' house looking out over the black night to the ocean, there were no city lights and the stars and moon were beautiful and bright They couldn't see the ocean but the crash from the waves was very loud.

"You fling it at somebody or what? Put it on yourself?" Buffy asked. "A handful of salt?"

Willow smiled her way. "Forming a casting circle. Salt is powerful, but salt that's infused with herbs like those, way more powerful."

"Huh," Buffy got out at that. Willow looked at her with a raised eyebrow and Buffy smiled. "I'm not channeling Oz. Just makes me think that you really need to talk with your mom about witchy stuff." She motioned for them to move on and they headed on back towards the house. So far there had been nothing of the dark and evil about the island.

Willow looked worried. "How do I do that? 'Hi, I know we just met and you're my mom and all- a-and you're really, really nice and if not way different from me but are you a witch?'" She looked to her friend who made a face of agreement.

"Okay, point there," Buffy replied. "It'd be like when I told my mom about my Slayery-ness. That was so not of the good." Willow giggled at the word and Buffy smiled her way. "You know, and don't think I'm saying your mom is bad or anything Will. But she reminds me a little of Faith."

Willow's eyes widened at that but Buffy held up her hands to ward off any protest. "She just does her own thing. And I think if we weren't around she'd be smoking a lot more."

"She's not homicidal," Willow pointed out firmly as she tried not to think of her mom as an older Faith. She wasn't, but the similarities were there and in that way Willow was so not like her.

Even having a relationship during high school with Oz, she still wasn't confident about her body or her ability to be attractive. Gillian was built the same but she was sly, and seemed to like trouble from the way she talked and she was very secure about her body and sex, sometimes she even got Buffy blushing until Sally would cut Gillian off and the older redhead realized just what she was saying, she wasn't sorry for it though. Faith was a lot like that.

"No, she's not," Buffy agreed.

Willow sighed to herself. "She's confident about herself isn't she? She's not afraid to you know –, like guys and stuff."

"She's a little skanky," Buffy translated.

"But not Faith skanky," Willow reiterated firmly. No one talked bad about her mother. Willow wished she could be a little skanky at times. The thought made her uncomfortable.

Buffy nodded at that. "I don't think anyone is that skanky."

The two girls giggled a little, but the reminder that Faith was in a coma and all with the being bad made it not as funny as it could have been.

"Vamp Willow would have liked her," Buffy told her.

Willow rolled her eyes and nodded firmly with that. "Imagine Gillian as a vampire."

Buffy shook her head after thinking about that. "Faith as a vampire."

"She'd skank them to death," Willow said and this time the two laughed. When they calmed down Willow sighed and Buffy linked her arm through hers as they walked. "It's weird to think that she doesn't even know who my dad is." Buffy made a little nod at that, it was wild. "I mean, I came from a fling," Willow said redirecting the conversation as they headed up the path to the house and the garden, the lights were off and hopefully the Owens sisters were asleep.

"An orgy of flings if you think about it," Buffy said as Gillian's statement about how many boys she had slept with came out.

"See, an orgy," Willow repeated shaking her head. "I could never do an orgy."

Buffy snorted at that remembering their junior year in high school. "You had to be a ghost for Halloween, Will. No orgies for you."

"A-and with college coming up, and Oz gone," Willow went on. "I think I'm doomed to wallflower status again."

Buffy pulled her to a stop on the walkway in the midst of the growing herbs Sally used for her business. "You are not, I won't let you. We just aren't orgy type people. I mean, my mom is from the sixties, and you don't want to know half of the stuff her friends go on about. It's gross thinking of my mom doing stuff like that." Buffy made a face at the thought.

"She would kill you if you did it," Willow said to her with a smile at the look on Buffy's face.

"I know, that's half the fun of going to college," Buffy told her as they came to the flowering arch that led into the sitting area. Even at night it was pretty.

"That's different," Willow said as they looked around and she nodded to the gazebo where their were wicker seats and tables for relaxing outside. "Roses don't bloom this time of year." There were thick rose vines trailing up the side of a trellis at the gazebo, they were in bloom

"Weirder is the vibe I'm getting," Buffy said slowly looking around, the Slayer coming out.

"Bad weird?" Willow said looking around too. This was her mom's backyard. "They aren't evil, right?"

Buffy blinked and looked her way. "I've had evil in my house, doesn't mean your family is."

Willow nodded at the reassurance as they slowly stalked the backyard. Buffy looked down at the ground by the roses. "It's a grave."

Willow looked down at it. "Maybe they do that kind of thing here in on the island. No cemeteries."

"Nope, whatever's there is bad," Buffy said crouching down to poke at the ground with the tip of her stake, nothing moved, no hands of a vampire popped out - nothing.

Willow let her budding senses out and she felt it too. Her shielding wasn't the best, Giles was still reluctant to teach her magic. "What is it?" she whispered.

Buffy shrugged as she stood up. "Dead. But not rising tonight." She stepped back from the grave. "At least we can keep an eye on it."

Willow screamed as a big fat frog appeared from under the roses. She took big steps back, as the frog belched out something shiny from its mouth she sprinted for the doors. Buffy smiled a little as she heard the door shut and she saw a light go on from a bedroom in the house. Willow and her frog fear. The redhead could take on evil things, but in Willow's book, frogs were the worst.

The frog jumped away and Buffy looked to the shiny object, it was a thick man's ring with a skull and weird flames on it, like something a biker or vampire would wear to prove they were all badass.

Buffy looked to the ground as she heard voices in the house. "You aren't as badass as me," she warned them as she stood up and headed for the house pocketing the ring.

ooooooo

The next morning, around nine or so…

Willow and Buffy were both still not fully awake since technically there was no school, they were teenagers, and to them it felt like five in the morning because in California it would be around that time. They were curled up in the parlor on a couch with coffee when Sally came through to look out the window with a smile on her face.

"They're here," she said to them and Gillian who had followed through from the kitchen.

Gillian started looking herself over worriedly as Willow's eyes opened a touch wider but she was not a perky morning person, none of the Scoobies were; except maybe Xander when he had a few donuts in him.

Last night with the frog had been interesting. Sally had been the one to wake up but Gillian was the one that looked the most tired when they all got up. Sally learned about Willow's frog fear and when Buffy came in Willow asked if she touched it, because if she had she wasn't going to sleep near her.

Sally thought it was amusing for a minute then reminded them that it was late and what were they doing up? It was so mom like the girls thought it was sweet, they even giggled about it on the way upstairs to bed and Sally sighed wondering if her daughters were going to be like that when they were older.

"Who's here?" Willow asked through a yawn.

"The Aunts," Gillian said looking Willow over to make sure she looked presentable too when the panic rushed through her realizing just what the Aunts were going to do as she looked to her sister. "They're going to kill me!" she told her sister.

Sally rolled her eyes at that. "Eighteen years, Gillybean, ya think?"

They heard car doors shut and the running patter of feet coming up towards the house. "Sprightly little Aunts," Buffy said half awake around her coffee. Willow snickered at that and the sisters could only smile at the commentary, that they began to learn was very teenager and probably very Californian.

The front door opened and two young girls came running through up to where Sally was and the girls hugged her then began to talk rapidly to her in excited voices about dancing naked under the moon and how 'cool' it was. That was interesting and very witchy type stuff to be doing. Buffy looked to Willow who shook her head, she wasn't doing it no matter how cool it was and Buffy smiled at that.

Then the young girls looked from their mother to Gillian who looked very nervous and the older one, the redheaded girl, literally screamed. "Aunt Gillian!"

The younger one got into it and the two rushed to Gillian hugging her and babbling to the eldest redhead when the door reopened letting two more elderly women in, they looked to be about Giles' age. They too were like the other two sets of sisters. One redheaded and one brunette. "You're missing part of the set," Buffy whispered around her mug as Willow stood up now getting nervous.

Willow smacked her arm as the eldest brunette woman hugged Gillian only to spot the two girls on and by the couch. She took a second look then held Gillian back to look at her as the eldest redhead came up with a smile for her niece and saw Willow and Buffy there. "Who are our guests?" she asked only to look from Gillian to Willow. "Oh dear."

They both gave Gillian a look who blanched and the two women came into the parlor as the youngest set of sisters looked in. "Who's that mom?" the brunette child asked.

"That's a long story, let's go get breakfast on and let the Aunts talk to them," Sally replied.

Willow shifted on her feet as she looked to the two and Buffy abandoned her cup to stand up by her friend. The brunette woman cupped Willow's face and looked to her, almost seemingly into her soul. "Such power you have, you are an Owens," she told her. She kissed Willow's cheek. "Welcome home," she whispered to her.

The redheaded sister smiled as she hugged Willow tightly then looked at her. "How beautiful you are! What's your name sweet child?"

Willow's mouth tried to work but she was overwhelmed by the instant love from these two women and the power they gave off that flowed in waves like a soothing balm over her.

"Willow," Gillian said from behind them trying anything to get back in the Aunts' good graces. "Her name is Willow."

"Willow," the brunette replied looking at her. "So fitting; young, supple, beautiful as the tree itself."

Willow was blushing as they glanced over to Buffy. "Just a friend," Buffy replied to the inquisitive look. They might think she was another long lost relative.

The two aunts fully looked at her and she felt it, the power stroking over her testing her out. "Our Willow's friend, is more than that," the redhead replied looking at her curiously but the kind smile was always there. She smiled wider then back to Willow. "I'm your Aunt Jet, and this is your Aunt Fran."

Willow nodded with a smile. "Willow… which you already know of course. This is my friend Buffy- Buffy Summers."

"Why don't you two go in and get some breakfast while we talk to Gillian," Fran said.

Willow shook her head looking very worried now between them and her mother. "It's okay, we talked, she did what she thought was right, you know… You know?" she told them anxiously.

Jet smiled at her. "Everything's okay, Willow. But let us talk to her."

Buffy sighed and moved Willow along towards the kitchen. "Let them do it, they won't kill her," she whispered to her friend. "It's a parent-y thing."

They stood in the doorway to see two young faces around the ages of ten and seven looking at them curiously happy standing in front of the dining room table. "Are you our cousins?" the older one asked.

"She is, I'm just along for the ride," Buffy replied to them as she manuveured Willow down in a chair and voices in the parlor started up.

The two girls sat on either side of Willow who's eyebrows went up at this but then she smiled. "I'm Willow."

"Kylie," the older one, the redhead replied. "That's Antonia."

The seven year old nodded. "How come we've never met you before?"

"Antonia!" their mother warned from the kitchen in her 'don't ask such questions' tone.

Willow answered anyway. "I was adopted, I just learned about my mom, your Aunt Gillian, a few weeks ago."

Kylie looked curious. "Really, where did you grow up then?"

"California," Willow replied as Buffy sat down at the table across from them. She shifted nervously.

Kylie nodded. "Aunt Gillian, she's lived all over, even back that way," she told her. "Mom would show us on the map where she was living. I can find them myself though now."

Willow looked to Buffy as a flash of sadness appeared in the redhead's eyes, Gillian didn't live on the island all the time? She had been out west? Sally came out and saw the look, she had heard the conversation from the kitchen.

"Why don't you girls go and get plates for the table?" she told her daughters. She smiled at them as her hand brushed over Antonia's dark locks as the two girls passed by her. "Silverware too." They went through and the voices of the Aunts could be heard even more. Mostly it was Aunt Fran that was the loudest. "Things are never what they seem, Willow," she told her niece. "Gillian… she's just never done things the easy way." She smiled at her. "I know she does love you."

Buffy nodded in agreement. "She cut back her smoking for you Will."

Sally smiled at that. "She doesn't do that for just anyone, believe me, I'm surprised I don't hav-," she almost finished when the two girls looked at her in horror. "What?"

"You-," Buffy started, "we've just learned over the years that it's all not with the good to say things like that. They usually happen." Willow nodded in agreement.

Sally smiled but shook her head. "You're superstitious?"

"Cautious," Buffy replied as the younger girls came from the kitchen with plates.

ooooooo

Gillian winced as the two Aunts turned towards her as Willow was literally pushed out of the room by Buffy. "It's not what you think," she told them, she really needed a cigarette. She went looking for her bag by the hallway door where she had some.

The two aunts looked at each other then followed. "What do we think?" Fran asked firmly.

Gillian found her cigarettes and with shaking hands lit one up quickly to take in a large lungful of smoke. The Aunts were waiting patiently. "I was young, alright?" she told them. "I couldn't take care of her."

Jet sighed. "High school," she said looking to her sister. "I told you something was off about her then."

Fran waved that comment away as she came into Gillian's personal space. "That child is an Owens. She has a heritage to learn, who was she going to learn that from?"

Gillian bit on her lip then took in another puff of smoke and Jet waved her hand and the smoke was cleared from the air and the stench of cigarette was replaced with the scent of autumn all by magic. "She'd learn," Gillian said finally. "I told her parents she could contact me when she was eighteen, she came." She pointed towards the kitchen as proof that her child had returned.

Fran rolled her eyes at this. "Darling we love you, we always will, but every witch needs to learn from the family, not by accident."

Gillian shrugged. "So, you'll teach her."

Jet looked worried as Fran shook her head, her hands up in the air as if asking the heavens 'why?'. "Can't you feel it, sweetheart?" Jet said calmly looking to her niece. "Don't you practice the craft anymore?"

Gillian shrugged. "A bit." But not really other than the minor glamour spell or luck spell.

Fran shook her head more as she came back from her bit of pacing in the parlor looking very worried. "She has power, more than I've ever felt from any witch, even the two of us."

Gillian's eyebrows went up at that. "Then she knows?"

"I don't know," Fran shot back, "does she?" Gillian bit on her lower lip again looking worried. Fran continued, "You're her mother, like it or not. Giving her away doesn't change that, she is an Owens by blood and her blood cannot change. She's a witch and if she's practicing without being taught she will do herself and probably others a world of hurt."

Jet gently touched her sister's arm to calm her down and Fran stopped from saying anything else she was going to at the moment. "Why didn't you tell us?" Jet asked, speaking about eighteen years ago when she was pregnant.

Gillian took in another lungful of smoke and let it out as she looked from them to the floor then back. "It was my problem," she replied.

"You didn't want the responsibility," Fran said honestly. "You were boy crazy and you got pregnant and she was in the way."

"I made sure she went to a good home!" Gillian fought back pointing her fingers with the cigarette in at them. "I made sure." This time it was a doubtful tone in her voice.

"Gillian this should have been her home," Jet responded. "We would have raised her. Sally would have loved to have her here."

Gillian shook her head at this. "She's my daughter. I couldn't stay… I didn't want to stay."

Fran let out a sigh but Jet nodded slightly, she understood, they both did, they had raised her from when she was a young child. Gillian had been the wild child, and Sally the adult-like one. "Well, she's here now. We'll do what we can," Jet told her.

Gillian's shoulders dropped. "It's not that I don't love her-."

Fran held up her hand to her. "Save it, it's done. It's time to train her. She is your responsibility, Gillian. Like it or not, she is your daughter."

Gillian looked away from them and the two aunts left the hallway heading for the kitchen. "Damn it," she muttered as she took in another drag from her cigarette.

Willow looked up from where Kylie was showing the two teenagers the latest book she was reading and Antonia was literally laying across Willow's lap to talk about it too, trying to get as much attention from her cousin as her older sister was. Sally was smiling at the shocked look on Willow's face, but you could see the redhead was soaking it up. Her daughters had taken to their cousin as if they had known her forever. Buffy was smiling too as she was working on her second cup of coffee that morning.

"What are we having for breakfast?" Jet asked coming through into the dining room. "Brownies aren't that hard to make."

Sally shook her head. "No brownies for breakfast, pancakes."

"Brownies never hurt anyone," Jet said as Fran moved about the room to the cabinet with the glasses in it. "Do you like brownies Willow?" she asked.

Willow nodded. "I've never had them for breakfast before," she replied looking back to see where her mother was. It wasn't long before Gillian came in and sat down at the end of the table away from everyone with a new cigarette in her fingers with a brooding look on her face and Willow looked worried.

"Well then," Fran said with a smile, "you are in for a treat. Buffy?"

Buffy nodded. "Chocolate and coffee, breakfast of champions. If they could make chocolate diet it would be even better."

The Aunts made a face at that thought and Fran clutched her chest in mock horror. "There is no such thing as diet in this household young lady," Fran told her with a warm smile making the four youngest in the room smile.

"We are on vacation," Willow replied to her friend.

Buffy smiled a little at that. "Guess I can burn it off with a jog or something."

Jet looked confused. "What would you be jogging after dear?"

Sally shook her head. "Let it go, exercise means nothing to them." The Aunts laughed at that and went into the kitchen and Sally groaned. "Don't encourage the Aunts you two, they'll corrupt you faster than you can imagine." She looked to her sister who was not at all happy. "Why don't you guys all go in and see how they make them? It's going to happen anyway."

Willow and Buffy got the hint getting up from the table. Antonia clung to Willow like a limpet forcing the older girl to carry her in as they went into the kitchen. Sally's eyebrows went up as she waited for her sister to speak. Gillian glared as she let out another mouthful of smoke. "I thought you were watching the smoking around her?" Sally said.

"Apparently I didn't care then so why start now?" Gillian replied sullenly.

Sally sighed as she came around and sat down by her. She gently took the cigarette from her sister's fingers and put it in a forgotten glass of water on the table and with a little 'pffz' it was out. "Gilly, you knew the Aunts were going to be mad. What did you think would happen if Willow came here?" she asked her sister seriously. "That they'd be all cheerful learning about it?"

Gillian stared to her fingers where the cigarette was missing for a long moment as giggles and the Aunts laughter filled the kitchen before looking her sister's way. "I guess I didn't think." She sighed looking to the kitchen. "It's a wonder she doesn't hate me."

Sally smiled. "She seems like the type that doesn't hate anyone."

"So not like me," Gillian replied as she looked to Sally again. "The Aunts said she has power." Sally looked curious. "Witch powers."

Sally's brow furrowed. Magic. "It's best left alone."

"They said she needed to be trained," Gillian replied.

"No," Sally whispered firmly so they wouldn't be overheard. "The Aunts think everything is about magic, it's not. You don't have to train her, they don't. Tell them to leave their noses out of it."

Gillian sighed totally confused and drained. "So what do I do?"

"Just be her mother if you want. It seems like she wants that," Sally said. "You don't need to teach her anything about magic."

Gillian looked to her. "What if it's best that she learned?"

Sally closed her eyes and shook her head. "Magic is never best, you and I both know that." She looked her way. "It's up to you."

Gillian nodded as she looked to the doorway and wished for another cigarette. A bottle of alcohol wouldn't hurt either.

ooooooo

Willow looked a little shocked but Buffy was grinning as the two aunts didn't look like any they had ever seen. The had on turn of the twentieth century clothing, long skirts, hair in buns, but they looked stylish. Fran had Sally and Antonia's brunette hair and brown eyes. While Jet had Gillian, Willow, and Kylie's red hair and light eyes. Neither of them were Willow sized skinny but they looked comfortable with who they were.

At that particular moment the Aunts were sitting at the kitchen counter with the two younger girls on either side of them as they had flour, chocolate and sugar out.

First and foremost they had mixed up the frosting for their brownies. The teenagers both noticed that the foursome began to eat it the instant it was ready with spoons, spatulas, anything on hand, even fingers.

"Join in," Fran told them as she handed over two spoons to them.

Buffy and Willow looked to each other then leaned over the countertop and took out some frosting themselves. "My mom would have a hissy seeing me eat this for breakfast," Buffy told her as she licked off a bit of chocolate.

Willow smiled at that, Mrs. Summers would, but not if she could join in, Buffy's mom was cool that way.

"What about your mother dearheart?" Jet asked Willow as she mixed batter together for the brownies.

The teenagers looked to each other again. "She- um," Willow winced, "she's a psychiatrist, the USDA pyramid is good for her."

The Aunts shook their heads at that. "How dreadfully boring," Fran replied with a smile.

"What did she think about you coming out here?" Jet asked.

The Aunts saw the silent conversation between the teenagers just by the looks. They were that close of friends, pretty much sisters. "Mrs. Rosenberg," Buffy started. "She's sorta… absent."

"A lot," Willow replied. "But not in a bad way. Things are good."

Fran and Jet's eyes narrowed at this. "She wasn't around to raise you?" Fran asked.

"She was... or she was the most part," Willow said squirming in her seat as she looked to Buffy. "High school, I guess… I mean, I think she figured that I-," she squirmed more and made a face that she wasn't sure what to say. "Things are good."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "What my shy best friend is trying to say without getting anyone in trouble is that my mom is her mom, and my mom is okay with that."

"She's Xander's mom too," Willow finished glad that Buffy interceded for her.

"Who's Xander?" Antonia asked, her mouth was covered with chocolate.

"Our bestest best friend, as he would say," Buffy told the youngest one there with a smile. "Will's known him forever, and I've been with them since the start of High School."

"Boys have cooties," Kylie told them seriously around a mouthful of frosting.

"Xander's cooties are nice cooties," Willow replied then frowned. "No, wait, that sounded wrong," she said mostly to herself as she thought about it.

"Xander's a good guy," Buffy told them. "He's funny and he's always there to help when you need him." She took a bigger lick of frosting, it was usually with her friends that she indulged in something like this. "He's on road trip, he might make it up here to meet you all."

The Aunts looked interested now. "A young man in the Owens' house? That hasn't happened for many years," Fran said and she leaned forward, Jet moved the mixing bowl out of the way as if she knew her sister was going to do that. "Is he a boyfriend?"

Buffy and Willow giggled at that. "No," Willow replied. "I wanted him to be, but I was always like a sister to him," she told them. "Now he's just a friend… that's a boy."

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Jet asked as she poured the batter into a pan for the oven.

Willow shook her head. "I did, senior year, his name is Oz."

"Did?" Fran asked as she ate some frosting.

"We split up," Willow told her, she felt a little bad about it but he really didn't want to go on to school and he wanted to figure out how to control the werewolf part of himself. "He's a musician and decided to travel and I'm going to college with Buffy."

Fran patted her hand. "Sometimes it's all for the best."

"Where are you going to college?" Jet asked.

"USC," Willow said. "University of Sunnydale California."

Fran and Jet both looked her way warily. "And that's in what city?" Fran asked lightly.

"Where we live," Buffy told them. "Sunnydale, California."

"What!?" Fran and Jet both exclaimed.

ooooooo

Sally and Gillian looked up at the exclamation both of the aunts made following by Jet coming out through the door a moment later to look directly at Gillian, the others were following behind. The four younger ones curious as to what was going on. Fran was by the teenagers, her hands on both of their backs and they looked between her as she was concentrating on them with her eyes closed, and Jet who was in front of the middle Owens sisters.

"Do you know where your daughter lives?" Jet asked Gillian.

"California," Gillian replied wondering what had them more upset than hearing that she had put her daughter up for adoption.

"Do you know WHERE in California?" Jet asked firmly trying to remain calm but her smile was very tight.

"What does it matter where?" Sally asked not understanding what the big deal was.

"What are you doing?" Buffy asked looking to Fran, the woman's hand was very warm on her back.

"Shhh, child, let me concentrate," Fran replied.

"What's going on?" Kylie asked.

"DO YOU KNOW WHERE?" Jet asked loudly over the other voices.

"No!" Gillian replied. "A small town in California, Sunny something! It sounded nice!" she said just as loudly back. "Are you going to get mad at me about that too? I didn't pick where she lived!"

Jet looked stunned as she shook her head. "Dabblers, we raised dabblers," she muttered in shock then looked to her sister. The brunette glanced up as Buffy tried to move away but whatever she was doing had a hold on her somehow. Willow looked like she was half out of it, her eyes were focused on something else.

"There's some there," Fran said to Jet. "What have you two been doing?"

"What's wrong?" Sally asked.

"Darkness?" Jet asked worriedly.

Willow came out of her trance when Fran finished checking their souls, it was amazing but she couldn't tell what the woman had done, it was out of her league. She was absolutely confused but it had to do with magic. Fran nodded at her sternly. "You my little witch have been pulling in dark magics."

Sally and Gillian both looked to Willow who blushed bright red. "What the HELL is going on?" Sally asked slamming her hand down on the table getting every ones attention. Her daughters both looked her way, it took a lot for their mother to swear that angrily.

Jet and Fran looked to the two teenagers. "Do you know what's in Sunnydale?" Jet asked.

Buffy gave them a suspicious look as she folded her arms just waiting to see what they would say. "Do you?"

The Aunts smiled at this. "Boca de infierno, the Spanish called it," Fran told her seriously.

Willow and Buffy looked a little stunned. "You know?" Willow whispered. "How do they know?" she whispered to Buffy.

"Know what?" Sally and Gillian demanded together.

"Boca de infierno," Jet whispered stroking back some of Willow's hair. "The mouth of hell."

Sally sighed. "This is not some nightmare tale you two!" she told her aunts. "It's California, not Hell!"

"Technically, it's the mouth of Hell," Buffy replied. "Or as we call it, the Hellmouth. In Sunnydale anyway, not the entire state."

"You do magic," Willow whispered looking at Jet who was in front of her. "You really are witches."

Jet smiled at her. "You are one as well, all Owens are."

Willow grinned and hugged her, surprising the older woman. "I knew there was something," she got out.

Sally and Gillian were stunned into silence. Willow hadn't freaked out, she was happy to know she was a witch.

Fran looked to Buffy, her eyebrows raised. "You, however, are not a witch."

Buffy smiled grimly. "Unto every generation. One girl in all the world," she told her waiting to see if they knew just who she was.

Jet and Fran looked her way in awe. Sally and Gillian just sat there watching, not understanding. "Somebody?" Sally asked. "Anybody?" She really wanted to know what was going on.

"The Chosen One," Fran whispered. "You are the chosen one."

Buffy nodded grimly. "That would be me."

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Gillian asked loudly.

The aunts looked her way and Willow let Jet go moving over towards Buffy. "You two never studied, never tried," Jet said trying to figure out a way to tell them there was so much more in the world than the magic on this little island.

"Alright, enough riddles from you two," Sally said to Jet. She looked to Willow and Buffy. "How did you know we were witches?"

Willow made a face and Buffy sighed. "Because I am one?" Willow offered meekly, having the wrath of an aunt focused on you was a new experience to her. "Not a great one, but I'm learning."

Fran patted her back. "Don't worry, you'll learn all you want."

Sally motioned to her aunt to be quiet. "How did you know you wanted to be a witch? And what's in Sunnydale?"

"What's a chosen one?" Gillian asked.

Buffy made a face. "That's a long story."

"Let's sit and have some brownies," Jet started again.

"Slayer, Hellmouth, witch," Willow said quickly as Sally started to look very angry, Gillian wasn't far behind them. "Buffy's the Slayer, I'm a witch, and we fight on the Hellmouth, which is Sunnydale."

Buffy gave her friend a look. "Clip notes?"

"Cliff," Willow corrected. "If they're powerful witches I don't want to be hexed or anything by making them madder."

"They dabble," Fran said as if they were nothing to be afraid of, motioning for them to sit at the table.

Gillian sat down by Willow who was holding Buffy's hand while Jet went into the kitchen for the brownies. "What's a Hellmouth?" she asked looking to her daughter and daughter's friend worriedly.

"Just what it means," Buffy replied. "It's the mouth of Hell, things of all evilness and badness come up out of it, or they're attracted to it and I slay it."

"And I help," Willow finished.

Sally shook her head pacing around on the other side of the room. "I do not need to hear this," she muttered motioning to her daughters with a point of her fingers to the stairs. "Upstairs, you aren't hearing any more of this."

"Mom-," Kylie started to complain.

"NOW!" Sally ordered loudly. The two girls ran for the stairs. She looked to the four women, her gaze on Jet as she came out with a pan of brownies. "I'm going to need more than damn brownies if I'm going to listen to this!"

She went to the cabinet high out of her daughters reach and took down a bottle almost full with a golden liquid. "Is it a potion?" Willow asked her mother.

"Whiskey," Fran answered with a smile.

Gillian looked to her daughter. "How did you know to become a witch?" she asked.

Willow shrugged. "I like books and Giles, he's Buffy's Watcher, he has a lot of really old books. And then there's magic and spells."

"She resouled Angel," Buffy replied. "I think that changed it from dabbling to serious studying for you."

"Only Giles doesn't like me trying out magic, he says it's dangerous," Willow carried on as the two friends explanations flowed easily from one to the other as the older women listened. "It usually goes bad for me," Willow replied. "The resouling didn't, but that was I think more than just me."

"Who did you re-soul exactly?" Jet asked sitting down by Sally across from the girls. Sally and Gillian both had drunk a shot of liquor and had their second ones poured out.

"Angel, Buffy's boyfriend, well ex-boyfriend I guess now," Willow replied looking to her friend who looked a little put out at that.

"Why exactly did you have to do that?" Sally asked tiredly as she downed her second shot and cradled the glass to her forehead as if it could stem off the oncoming headache.

"He's a vampire," Willow replied as if it was a normal occurrence.

Sally closed her eyes and you could see she wished she hadn't of heard that. Gillian was still watching with her second drink in her hands. "There are vampires?" she asked. "Real vampires?"

Willow and Buffy nodded. Fran looked her way. "If you had studied instead of fooling around you'd know this."

"Giving someone their soul back is very advanced," Jet said gently to Willow. "Most witches don't even try it."

Willow looked to Buffy who grimaced. "It's complicated," Buffy told her.

"It usually is," Fran said as she got two more glasses and poured some alcohol for her and Jet.

"And a Slayer?" Sally asked tiredly.

The girls looked to the Aunts wanting to know what they would say and Fran smiled answering for the two of them. "We've read a few things, if it wasn't for our Book of Shadows we would be very lost. One of your ancestors knew a Slayer back in the seventeen hundreds." She got up and went out of the room.

"There's nothing in there about Slayers," Sally told Jet. Gillian was still holding her glass looking at her daughter who was staring at the table trying to be invisible to her mother's gaze.

There was a clearing of a throat from the doorway and they saw Fran standing there. "Our Book?" she asked.

Sally stood up and left the room only to return with a large, old, thick leather bound book. Willow literally crawled over Buffy to be closer to it as Fran opened it up. Buffy smiled. "I can move Will."

Willow smiled back embarrassed. "I've never seen a real Book of Shadows before, other than the one I started for myself."

She and Buffy changed seats. Sally and Gillian saw Fran concentrate and pages appeared out of thin air making the book over an inch thicker. "Where the hell did that come from?" Sally asked in shock. "How come we've never seen that?"

Fran turned the pages gently. "Because only a witch with true intent of being a witch and the knowledge to access it can do so. You two," she said looking at her nieces, "have never had the desire or want to."

"What is it exactly?" Gillian asked coming over to look over Willow's shoulder.

"Oh, there's the Master," Willow said pointing at a page.

"You know him?" Jet asked as Sally and Gillian frowned at the look of the horrible vampire.

"Came, saw, was disappointed… He had fruit punch mouth," Buffy replied not looking at it. That was not a good memory, dying and all. "He's dead."

"Really, really dead. Not just undead," Willow said and Buffy smiled her way. "And there's Angel," Willow replied pointing to the name Angelus under the lineage of the Master.

"That says Angelus, not Angel," Sally said taking a sip of her third drink.

"When he got resouled the first time, he was known as Angel," Willow told her as Buffy looked to the page.

"How did he lose it the last time?" Fran asked.

Willow and Buffy were silent. "The curse had a clause," Buffy told them. "It got broken, but he's all goodly again. Stupid, hunky vampire," she muttered. She looked to the drink Gillian had abandoned and Jet moved it away from her.

Jet smiled at the look. "Chocolate in the morning, yes. Alcohol and minors, no," she told the Slayer. "Not until it's something fun."

Buffy made a face and rested her head on the table to take a nap, she didn't like where any of this was going. "You know there's something dead buried in the backyard right?" The women stilled, Buffy turned her head to look at them. "It's evil whatever it is."

Willow nodded. "Hopefully it's a frog."

Buffy shook her head. "Not the frog, Will. The thing in the ground."

"By the frog," Willow said shuddering.

The Aunts looked to Sally and Gillian seriously who looked very nervous at each other.

ooooooo

Willow and Buffy sat by each other at the counter in the kitchen digging bits of brownie out of the pan as the Aunts, Sally and Gillian had a 'discussion' in the other room. The two had been asked politely to go into the kitchen while they talked. Jet gave them the brownies and the door had been firmly shut.

"This has been a weird trip," Buffy said finally.

Willow nodded. "Think it will get weirder?"

Buffy nodded as she pulled off a big chewy chunk of brownie from the corner of the pan and ate it. "We're here, aren't we?"

Willow smiled. "Now we need Xander and we're good to go."

"You think your mom and aunt buried it out there?" Buffy asked.

Willow made a face. "That would be with the bad, I don't want to have a murderer for a mom." She looked sad at her friend. "She's nice, a-and she wants to get to know me and everything."

Buffy patted her arm. "I didn't say killed- buried. And if it's evil, it deserved to die."

Willow smiled at that, it made her feel much better. She looked out the window to see Sally and Gillian go out to where the roses were. The Aunts came into the kitchen. "Everything will be alright my dears," Jet told them.

"Do you know what it is?" Willow asked looking to the two outside. They were arguing and her mother was ripping at the roses with her bare hands.

"No, but it's up to your mother and aunt to figure it out," Jet replied. "It's time they took responsibility for their actions."

Buffy shrugged. "We're used to doing things like this on our own."

Fran shook her head. "No, you two are coming with us. You have training to do," she told Willow.

"We can't leave them," Buffy told the two women. "It's evil."

"They're witches," Jet replied. "They need to learn."

"That's one hell of a lesson," Buffy muttered. Giles had done the cruisi-mo-whatsis on her earlier that year and her mom got stuck in it all with the crazed vampire and her with no powers. Sometimes adults were stupid.

Fran smiled. "Sometimes the lessons are hell, but if the two of us stay, they'll look to us to get them out of it."

"We're staying," Willow told them firmly.

Fran and Jet looked to the two and Buffy pointed at Willow. "She has the resolve face going."

They smiled at that. "Then we would like a promise from the both of you," Jet told them.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"If and only if, they are in dire straits should you interfere," Fran said. "We aren't abandoning them, we'll know if they are in danger and return, but they must learn the consequences of dabbling with what they don't know." She pointed to Willow. "Learn from this so you won't make the same mistakes my little witch."

"We'll leave a few books for you to learn from while we're gone," Jet told Willow.

"Your Book of Shadows?" Willow asked, her eyes sparkling.

"You aren't ready for that. No, these books are something every witch starts out with when she truly wants to learn the craft," Jet replied. Willow looked disappointed.

Fran shook her head. "Do you want to be a dabbler or a true witch?"

"A true witch," Willow replied instantly.

The Aunts smiled. "Then you must start from the beginning."

ooooooo

Buffy looked out to where Sally was furiously cutting down the roses with hedge clippers like a mad woman. The Aunts had left after seeing to the younger girls. Gillian came through from outside about ten minutes ago and headed off upstairs without a word to either of them.

She and Willow were in a part of the dining room that had big windows that looked out over the garden. Willow was in an overstuffed chair with her head in a book. That was the most comforting thing to Buffy there. Jet had brought her two tomes that were dusty and old, then bid the two goodbye and to be safe as a taxi was waiting for them.

The Slayer watched as a man with short brown curly hair, probably a little bit older than Sally came up to the garden from the side of the house. He had on cowboy boots and a western style jacket and he flashed Sally his badge. "Great, just what we need, a cop," she said to her friend. Willow didn't react and Buffy rolled her eyes and nudged her. Willow looked up over the edge of the book to her. Buffy nodded outside. "Cop," she repeated.

Willow glanced through the windows to see the rugged looking man talk to her aunt. She nodded. "Not a Sunnydale one though," she replied.

"Yup, he might even have a brain in there somewhere," Buffy told her and the two gave each other a little bit of a concerned look. "Hopefully not then. You want a drink?" she asked.

Willow shook her head, watching the two outside. "It's different, being the watcher and not the watchee."

Buffy smiled. "We could so talk with snoty British accents."

Willow nodded at that. "Look down our noses at them even," she continued on this line of thought.

"And pretend to send them to their deaths and not care, that's always something I've so wanted to do," Buffy finished. Willow's brow furrowed at that. "Well, not to your family, but Quentin and maybe Wesley," Buffy amended.

Willow nodded again agreeing with her then went back to her book as Buffy got up and went into the kitchen. She poured a glass of iced tea and sat herself back down in her chair setting her drink on the small table between hers and Willow's chairs. "Sure you don't?" Buffy offered again.

Willow shook her head but took a sip of Buffy's drink with a smirk which made the blond stick her tongue out at her as she went back to watching. "You know, it sorta is better than TV, and in big screen," she said mostly to herself knowing that Willow was only half listening.

It wasn't long before Sally headed towards the door they were by when she turned back and said something else to the man and he followed her in. Sally headed quickly through the house as the man looked to the two of them.

Buffy's eyebrows rose up as she took a sip from her drink. "Do you live here?" the man asked.

Buffy shook her head. "Vacation."

He nodded at that. "You related to them?" he asked nodding to the where Sally had left them. Buffy shook her head as she took another sip. He nodded again after she didn't say anything after that to look around the house from where he was standing. "Where you from?"

"Not here," Buffy replied. "So, who are you?" she asked.

He nodded. "Officer Hallett," he replied. "And you?"

"Buffy, Willow," she replied pointing to herself then to Willow. She nudged Willow but the redhead brushed her hand away from her as if a fly was annoying her.

"You're just visitin' then," he said.

Sally came down the stairs to see him talking to Buffy and he looked her way. Buffy paused with her drink up to her lips when she saw the way they looked at each other. It was like watching two kids from high school that liked each other… a lot. She smacked Willow's arm harder to get her to pay attention when Sally spoke.

"So, what brings you all the way up here, officer?" she asked nervously as she bumped back into the wall behind her trying to look like everything was okay.

Willow looked up to see this. "I am so an Owens," she whispered to Buffy who nodded. Willow was better at acting like nothing was wrong, but back when they first started being friends, Willow was horrible at it.

Office Hallett drew an envelope out of his jacket pocket that looked like it had been opened and read a few times. Sally looked at it a little closer then up at him. "That's a personal letter," she said accusingly as she reached for it, but he held it away from her hand putting it back in his pocket then looked to the girls. "Maybe we could take this-."

"Why, hello there," Gillian said in an ultra sexy voice as she came down to the end of the stairs in a pretty dress and her hair nicely groomed.

Willow and Buffy looked her way as she came into the room and Sally looked annoyed. Officer Hallett finally took his eyes off of Sally to look her way. "I'm here looking for your boyfriend James Angelov," he told her.

Gillian shook her head but still had the flirtatious part going. "I don't know where he is," she lied smoothly.

Willow was blushing now, she was not like that. "Vamp Willow," Buffy muttered to her.

"My mom's not that skanky," Willow replied back just as softly. "Or- or even evil."

"You know that's interesting," Officer Hallett replied to Gillian. "See, there's a car out front with Arizona license plates and they're registered to your boyfriend."

Sally saw the teenagers' eyebrows go up at that. "Why don't we go into the parlor," she told the other two. Gillian saw the girls as Officer Hallett agreed and the three left them.

Willow rested her chin on the top edge of the book. "Maybe I'm Sally's daughter," she surmised to Buffy.

Buffy shook her head. "Look at my dad," she told her. He moved on with his life and left her behind. "At least she wants you."

Willow looked out the window to the grave. "You think that's him?" she asked softly.

Buffy shrugged. "It felt like our kind of evil. Not human evil."

"Can you feel human evil?" Willow asked.

"Not that I know of, but look at where we're at, witch fantasy island," Buffy told her.

Willow nodded still looking at the half destroyed roses her Aunt Sally had hacked down, and the area around it where they knew the evil was at. "So not of the good."

Buffy shook her head. "Nope."

"Poop," Willow replied looking sad hoping her mom wasn't in trouble. Buffy nodded with that.

ooooooo

Buffy was in a half doze and Willow was still reading when the Slayer heard soft footsteps come their way. She opened an eye and spotted Kylie and Antonia sneaking down the stairs. She took Willow's book away from her and the redhead scowled until she saw her cousins coming their way.

"Are you guys in trouble?" Kylie asked as Antonia climbed up onto Willow's lap.

Buffy shook her head. "No, everything's okay."

"What's with the rope?" Willow asked looked at the cord around Antonia's neck, there was one about Kylie's as well.

"The Aunts put them on," Kylie told them. "They said we'd be safe."

Buffy and Willow didn't look surprised at that. "We're hungry," Antonia said to Willow.

The teenagers looked at each other again, they had gotten bored and finished the brownies off and between the two of them they could make macaroni and cheese from a box and cookies.

"Does your mom believe in mac and cheese from a box?" she asked the girls.

"Once in a while, but not usually," Kylie told her. "We'll find something, you guys come with us."

Antonia nodded as she got off of Willow's lap. "We want to know about the slayer and the hellmouth," she whispered the last word softly. "Mom doesn't let us swear."

The four of them were munching on toast and very hard cooked scrambled eggs when the two sisters finally returned without the officer. Sally sat down by Antonia and smiled wanly at her youngest child as she was offered a half eaten slice of toast. She took it anyway.

Willow looked to Gillian who sat down by her and Willow handed her the rest of the plate with toast on it and Gillian smiled briefly as she took a piece but didn't eat it. She got up and headed outside, they saw her light up a cigarette as she paced in front of the grave.

"Can we have a little time alone?" Sally asked her daughters.

The two girls sighed. "Can we do something later?" Kylie asked. Sally nodded and they went back upstairs.

Sally looked to the two. "Are you even afraid of what's going on?" she asked them. She was slouched forward her forehead in her hand and you could see the headache was there.

"Depends upon what's going on," Buffy told her.

Sally shook her head staring at the wall, she just looked tired. "You don't want to know, you really don't."

"Why don't you believe in magic?" Willow asked. "I wish I had known about it when I was younger."

Sally let out a deep sigh and glanced to her niece. "Magic isn't all it's cracked up to be. There are consequences, some are just too damn hard to take on."

"You mean like eh?" Buffy said nodding out to the garden.

Sally made a face of 'yeah, the eh'. "More than that. Do you know the story of Maria Owens?" They both nodded. "The whole story?"

"We know she was hanged, or tried to be hanged," Willow told her. "But Giles thinks it was because she was pregnant."

"Both," Sally replied. "Her lover, the father of her child never came for her, and she cursed all men that Owens women fall in love with that they would die. You'd hear the deathwatch cricket and when it was heard," she stilled herself as tears threatened to come. "they would die," she finished.

"So, your husband isn't on a business trip then," Buffy said quietly.

Sally shook her head and tears slid down Willow's cheeks. "I'm sorry," she told her Aunt.

Sally let out a sad laugh. "Don't be, it's not your fault." She shook her head sitting back. "You think magic's great, but sooner or later it's going to hurt so bad…"

"Who's buried out there?" Buffy asked.

Sally looked up at her. "Jimmy, but there's more to it than you know. It was all a stupid mistake." She looked out to Gillian as her jaw clenched. "We shouldn't of touched magic, we shouldn't of."

Willow watched out the window with Sally for a moment then stood up and headed for the doorway.

"Will?" Buffy asked.

Willow looked back at her. "I… I'll be back," she replied and soon they saw her outside headed for Gillian.

ooooooo

Willow slowly went up to where Gillian was still pacing and smoking in front of the grave. She was talking to the air, probably Jimmy at the way she was ranting.

"… just left us alone, but you couldn't could you!" she told him.

"A-are you okay?" Willow asked softly.

Gillian turned her way and Willow took a step back at the anger there but Gillian's eyes softened a little. "You shouldn't be here," Gillian told her.

Willow shook her head. "I- Buffy and I want to help."

Gillian laughed a little crazily as if Willow were insane. "Help? You're eighteen, how are you going to help?"

Willow blinked a little at this. She wasn't prepared for the sarcasm coming from her mother. "Buffy and I-,"

"That's right you grew up on this—hellmouth," Gillian said letting her anger out at Willow. "I don't see why you would want to help me. I abandoned you."

Willow shook her head. "I understand-,"

"You understand nothing," Gillian said pointing at her as she walked up to her. "I didn't want you, you were in my way! I don't want your help! I don't need your help! You should just go back home where I won't destroy it for you!"

Willow felt the tears come as she looked up at her, Gillian didn't look sorry, she looked like she wanted to throttle her. "You don't mea-,"

"You. Don't. Get. It," Gillian bit out each word. "I have more than enough to deal with, without you here."

The tears came and Willow ran out through the side garden for the front of the house and down to the street. Gillian felt the tears come as she went to take another drag from her cigarette. It never made it to her mouth as a hand gripped her neck and she was thrown back onto the ground painfully. She looked up to see Buffy standing over her looking mad and Gillian was more scared of that look and the power behind it that anything Jimmy had ever done to her.

"Whatever the hell you said to her," Buffy told her. "You're going to wish you hadn't."

Gillian laughed with tears in her eyes. "You're this slayer you talk about, go ahead- do it." She offered herself to be 'slain'.

Buffy shook her head standing over her. "I don't kill humans, I try not to harm them, but you hurt my best friend. You're suppose to be her mother."

"Well I'm not!" Gillian told her angrily letting the tears run freely. "She's better off without me. I won't ruin her too!"

Buffy couldn't even say anything she was so mad. She ran off to find Willow as Sally came up to Gillian, Buffy moved so fast she was to the road by the time Sally stopped in her place she looked to her sister laying on top of Jimmy's grave.

"Gilly, what the hell have you done?"

ooooooo

It was only when Willow's side began to get a stitch in it that she slowed down to a walk. She had ended up not heading for the town center but along a small road that went towards the beach.

Her tears were gone but her heart hurt. She found her way along the beach down through untouched tall grasses to look out over the shoreline.

She found a large rock and settled down on it curling her arms about her legs as the chilly wind drove through her as she stared blindly out into the sea.

"She didn't mean it," Buffy said from behind her, she had followed behind her making sure her friend was okay, it wasn't until the redhead had settled down on the rock that she announced herself. Willow was silent as the Slayer came and sat down beside her on the rock. "Moms say stupid stuff sometimes. Even my mom."

Willow rested her cheek on her arms to look at her. "Maybe I am in the way," she said and Buffy looked to her. "I'm in the way at home and my parents aren't even there. Why would she want me?"

Buffy sighed as she put her arm about Willow's shoulders and Willow cried silently. Buffy knew what it was like to get in arguments with a parent. She and her mom had toed the line quite a few times. But she knew no matter what her mom loved her, unconditionally. Willow's parents, they just didn't care, they left Willow behind and never gave another thought about their daughter's welfare. Now Gillian was pulling something Faith would.

Buffy knew Faith was a tough act, but looking back Faith had nothing but herself and inside… inside Faith was probably alone and afraid of being alone forever. Her mom had made her see that finally after Faith was in a coma. It was one of the reasons Joyce had tried to make Faith feel welcome. She would want someone to take her own daughter in if she were gone.

"I want you," Buffy told her. "Xander wants you." She saw Willow crack a little smile. "Giles does, my mom… if she doesn't then she doesn't and we'll be our own family. Her loss."

Willow nodded but the tears still slid down her cheeks. "Did they kill him?" she asked.

Buffy shook her head. "I don't know, I don't see them doing it. But we can leave, go pack our stuff and just leave if you want."

Willow was silent for a long time then her hazel eyes opened to look at Buffy. "I think we need to help them, an-and I want to learn to be a witch, even if they don't. I want the Aunts to teach me."

Buffy nodded. "I can beat her up some more if you want."

Willow's eyes widened at that. "You beat my mom up?" she asked sitting up a little.

Buffy grinned. "Shoved her down and told her off." She looked to her seriously. "She was crying, I think she wanted to die."

Willow sat up completely at this. "Why?"

Buffy shrugged shaking her head. "No idea, I've spent too long trying to stay alive to want to die." She stood up when she saw Willow was shaking from the cold and held her hand out to her friend. "You're freezing, and it's almost noon in California, I told my mom we'd call her then and tell her how it was going."

Willow took the offered hand to be helped up. They walked arm in arm back towards the pathway. "Can we take the long way back?" Willow asked.

ooooooo

Sally chewed on lip as she looked outside from her shop. She had dropped the girls off at one of their friend's house then came to at least finish out the few remaining hours at work hoping to spot Willow or Buffy wandering around and she could get a hold of them and take them home.

Gillian was at home taking a nap. Her sister had told her what she said to Willow and then collapsed in her arms. Sally knew her sister hadn't meant it. But Willow didn't know that, Willow had parents who apparently just abandoned her and now it probably seemed like Gillian didn't want her either.

"Honestly, Gilly," she said quietly as she watched worriedly out of the window for the missing girls. "I don't know what possesses you sometimes."

"Something up?" Carla asked as she looked out the window with her.

Sally shook her head. "A few things going on at home." She saw Officer Hallett come out of a shop nearby with a small notebook in hand and he looked to her shop. She frowned at this. He was just… she couldn't even explain it. Handsome, gorgeous, out to get her for murder one. That one made her take a step back from the handsome and gorgeous part… but just one step.

She sighed as he came towards her shop. Great, just great. She stayed at the window watching as he came in and nodded her way with a slight smile. She grimaced as he started questioning her employees.

"Just great," she muttered out loud this time. Then she spotted red hair outside that could only be an Owens girl. It was Willow. She headed outside and the two girls spotted her waiting for them on the sidewalk. Buffy didn't look comfortable in the chilly weather, but Willow looked freezing. "Come inside," she told them.

They both saw Officer Hallett there and she ushered the two of them back into her office space. "You're freezing," she said to Willow as she sat her down on a chair. Buffy looked to see there were boxes and a filing cabinet as Sally found one of her sweaters and a jacket hanging behind the door handing them to the girls.

"Everything okay?" Officer Hallett asked from the doorway.

"Just fine," Sally said as she firmly but politely shut the door and him out of the room. She turned to look at the two of them. "Listen, Gilly… she feels bad."

"She shouldn't have said it then," Buffy replied.

Sally nodded in agreement. "No, she's afraid."

Willow looked up at her confused. "Of me?" she quietly asked.

"Not of you, just everything… around you," Sally said.

"Responsibility," Buffy muttered. Willow and Sally looked to each other at that and as their eyes locked Willow saw it in Sally's eyes, what Buffy said was true.

"Oh my god," Willow whispered when she understood Buffy's connection to the word and who the two had been talking about recently. "I do have Faith for a mother, don't I?"

Buffy snorted out a laugh and Willow glanced her way as Sally just looked confused. "I-, honestly Will, I don't think Gillian's in the same league as Faith."

Sally looked more confused. "Who's Faith?" The girls looked her way and her eyebrows went up. "Wasn't rhetorical," she told them in a very Joyce manner.

Willow sighed looking at her dark haired aunt. "Are you sure you're not my mom?"

Buffy grinned keeping her laugh in at the look on Sally's face. "She's another Slayer," Buffy said. "She's not into responsibility either."

Willow nodded in agreement to that. Sally's eyebrow quirked as she looked to them. "How many Slayers are there?"

"Two right now," Buffy told her as she sat down on a box, the jacket was bringing the warmth back to her. "Usually there's only one."

Sally was going to ask another question when there was a knock at the door and Carla looked in. "There's a customer out here Sally," she said looking at the two girls curiously to her boss. "Needs your help."

Sally nodded and went to the door only to look back to Buffy and Willow. "Give me a minute, then we'll go home and clear this up, okay?" The two nodded back and she left shutting the door behind her.

Willow turned in her seat with the sweater wrapped around her, she had even tucked her legs up underneath to get warm. "I hope she's right," Willow told her. "I wouldn't want Faith for a mom."

"You don't like Faith," Buffy replied.

"Trying to kill someone can do that," Willow replied back and Buffy nodded. "Though I guess it was more holding me hostage… with a big honkin' knife."

Buffy sighed, Willow didn't understand Faith but after watching her in the hospital with the others she felt a little sorry for her, especially when her mom gave her a stern lecture on Faith and Willow overheard it. Buffy and Willow had grown up in households where they hadn't been abused or abandoned, at least not for Willow until later in her teens.

Willow sat up a little her eyes were focused somewhere else for a moment and Buffy looked her way. "Something's… wrong," Willow told her and they heard an exclamation by Sally out in the other room.

Buffy opened the door and they saw Sally running from the store with Officer Hallett not far behind. The two girls took off after them. Buffy being the Slayer caught up with Sally and could have passed her but she didn't know where she was going until the Owens house was in sight.

Sally ran faster but Buffy passed the Officer who looked surprised as Buffy followed Sally into the house. Sally went looking through the main floor frantically. "Gillian!" she called out worriedly as Willow was the next one to make it inside with the Officer not too far behind her. "Gillian!"

"Upstairs," Buffy said from where she stood, she could feel the 'wrong' presence there. She took off and Willow was right behind her. Sally was last in line and there on the bed was Gillian. Buffy held Willow back as Gillian's body jerked about sporadically. Sally was coming through as Officer Hallett held her back his gun out and pointed at the problem.

Buffy took his gun away from him with a single move and emptied the bullets onto the floor. "Guns don't work, they only piss them off," she told him as she watched Gillian again.

"Possessed," Willow whispered beside her friend. Gillian gasped and groaned but it was an ungodly sound, wet and sickly as her chest pulled up with her head lolling back and then a darkish grey mist separated from her and there was a form, the spirit of a man and no way was he someone good. His ghostly skin was a grayish color and his eyes were coal black.

He looked them over, his eyes wandering over Buffy then longer over Willow then his eyes met the other man. "Officer Hallett, just looking at you makes me homesick," he said. His voice was tinny, ghostly… wrong.

Officer Hallett was in shock at what he was seeing. "Jimmy Angelov," he finally responded to the visage in front of him.

Jimmy nodded at this as he stood up and Gillian's body collapsed down onto the bed unconscious. Sally gave a wide berth to Jimmy as she went to her sister. Jimmy looked to the Officer. "You come all this way for me, Officer Hallett?" he asked with a smirk. "Too bad for you, you can no longer touch me."

"What the hell," Officer Hallett got out still staring at him in shock.

Jimmy's laugh made half of the people in the room shudder. "What the hell is right," Jimmy said walking closer to him as Buffy shifted herself ready for just about anything that might happen.

Buffy's only experience with ghosts was the high school student and his teacher lover, that had ended with Angel 'dying' to get the ghosts to finally leave. She looked to Willow who was glancing at Gillian then back to her. Willow shook her head, she's never seen anything like it, she wasn't sure what to do.

"I see two young ladies I don't know here, but one of them has the scent of a witch," Jimmy said, his eyes going angry as he looked to Sally and Gillian. "I didn't see it before, but now…" he tapped his nose as he came to stand in front of the Officer, "… now I notice so much more."

He lashed out his hand burying it into the Officer's chest where his heart was. "This is how Gillian made me feel Officer Hallett!" he said angrily. "And I wanted to take her heart out so she couldn't leave!"

Buffy came up towards him with a kick but it went right through him and she landed gracefully on the other side. Jimmy looked to her as Officer Hallett gasped for breath trying to clutch at his chest.

"Burn!" Willow called out.

Jimmy gasped as his form flickered on fire for a moment, his hand released Officer Hallett who collapsed to the floor gasping for breath as he held his hand over his heart. Jimmy looked to Willow and a wicked grin came to his lips. "You're her daughter," he said with a laugh. "She mentioned you a couple of times, she even had a picture but I never found it, even when I beat her she never showed me." He came her way and Willow backed up, her eyes going wide at this.

"Why don't you pick on someone else, you… not of the Casper variety," Buffy said to him.

He shook his head. "You can't touch me," he replied without even looking her way, his eyes were locked on Willow. He mockingly shook a finger at the Slayer. "No one can touch me now. Isn't that right little girl?" he asked Willow.

Jimmy's eyes went wide as he looked down to see Buffy literally step into his form, the two forms shook together as the cross about Buffy's neck flared a gold white light burning into Jimmy's incorporeal body and his screamed in anger and pain as his form shifted and broke apart into ether and disappeared.

Buffy coughed a few times and looked to her friend. "Not the quip or the end I expected to that."

"What the hell was that?" Officer Hallett got out from where he was half sitting, half laying on the floor.

Buffy went to him as Willow went to where Sally and Gillian where. "Ghost, but I would say more than the ghostly ghost type," she replied as she easily helped the man twice as big as her up. She looked to where Willow watched Gillian's prone body nervously while Sally held her sister in her arms watching the rest of them worriedly.

"Well damn," Officer Hallett muttered. Buffy agreed with a nod of her head.

ooooooo

Gillian watched from the couch with an icepack to her forehead as Officer Hallett finally left. She didn't have anything to say, in all honesty the only thing that mattered at the moment was that Jimmy wasn't in her body and Willow was back.

Willow was slowly chewing away at her bottom lip just like Sally did when they were little while Buffy stood next to her protectively. Officer Hallett had been interrogating all of them for the past two hours and it was only when Kylie and Antonia returned from a friends house for the evening that he left giving them all a warning look that it wasn't over.

Sally took her daughters into the kitchen to make dinner as Buffy talked quietly with Willow. Gillian shook her head which only made it throb, she was not mother material, she knew that now. Even Jimmy had laughed when he found out she had a daughter.

ooooooo

Dinner was silent. Kylie and Antonia watched them all confused as they ate. Gillian and Willow hardly touched anything. Sally glanced between her sister and niece who sat by each other at the table. Gillian was nursing the icepack and a glass of scotch, it was Willow who made her heart ache, the teenager looked to reach out to Gillian more than once during the meal only to retract her hand as if touching her would be wrong.

Finally Buffy couldn't stand it either. "I need to call my mom if that's okay," she said looking at Sally. Sally nodded to her and Buffy took Willow along with her pretty much dragging her out of the room.

The two girls looked to where their cousin and her friend had just left, then to their mother who rolled her eyes but nodded that they could go too. They had a bit of idol worship over the newfound teenagers.

It was Sally and Gillian left at the table and Gillian looked to her sister. "What are we going to do?" Gillian asked. They both knew it was about Jimmy and the Officer.

"Isn't Jimmy completely gone now? Buffy is a Slayer and she slayed, right?" Sally asked.

Gillian shrugged. "How the hell am I supposed to know?" she replied back.

Sally sighed. "We shouldn't have touched the book."

Gillian scowled. "It's done, Sal. Just leave it."

Sally sat back in her seat raising her hands that she gave up on that. "So what are we supposed to do if he comes back?" she asked.

Gillian glared. "I don't know!" she yelled at her sister. "If I did don't you think I would do it?" They glared at each other in silence for a minute. "I wish the Aunts were here," she muttered as she finished her drink.

"Well, apparently we get to clean up our own damn mess," Sally retorted reminding her of what the Aunts left for a message.

There was a clearing of a throat at the doorway and they saw Buffy and Willow standing there. Willow looked like she wanted to be somewhere else but Buffy was keeping here there.

"Line was busy. How about if we see what you did to bring him back?" Buffy replied. The two sisters looked curiously at that but Buffy pointed to Willow. "Her idea." At that Willow moved out of their view shyly.

Sally smacked Gillian's arm and motioned for her to make amends with her daughter. Gillian stood and came face to face with the Slayer, both of the Owens saw just who she truly was, not some blond cheerleader type teenager.

"Mother," Buffy said pointing at Gillian. "Daughter," she jerked her thumb over her shoulder to where Willow had retreated. "Act like it. Stop making me all grownup, freaks me out."

Gillian followed in Willow's wake seeing that the girl had gone into the greenhouse. She watched as Willow looked to the plants. "I'm not good at this," Gillian told her softly. Willow looked up at her and you could see the teenager visibly swallow. "The mother thing," she said as came down the greenhouse steps. "You really are better off without me."

Willow turned away from her with sad eyes. Gillian came up closer. "It doesn't mean I don't want to though," Gillian finished. "I'm self-centered, I like to drink and smoke and play around. It doesn't mean I don't want to be a part of your life." Gillian touched her arm and Willow looked up at her. "I want to try to be your mom, but look at how I've started so far." She motioned to the bruise on her neck and the dark circles under her eyes from being possessed.

"What if you tell me to go away again?" Willow whispered.

Gillian felt the tears come. "If I do then realize that I'm being a stupid ass and have Buffy kick it for me. I don't want you to see me be… me." Gillian stroked Willow's arm. "Please Willow."

Willow clutched onto her surprising Gillian but she held her close. "Buffy kicks really hard," Willow said tearily into her shoulder.

Gillian smiled at this. "I figured as much when she threw me onto the ground."

Willow looked up at her then at the bruises on her neck. "I'm so sor-," she started but Gillian cut her off.

"She's a good friend, you two are pretty much like me and Sally," Gillian replied.

They went out of the greenhouse and they found Sally and Buffy looking over the Aunts Book of Shadows while Kylie and Antonia did homework in their room.

"Ew, that is like so wrong," Buffy was saying as she stared at the page.

"What?" Willow asked as she came up to her friend excited to look at the book. She looked at the page and started to read and her face blanched. "You po-poked needles in his eyes."

"Not the best time I want to remember," Sally replied.

"He was dead," Gillian offered making the two girls looked at them.

Willow looked over the ingredients. "Braided wheat, blue sage… henbane." She looked up at her mother and aunt. The older women gave her a look of 'yes it was that bad'.

"What did you do when he came back?" Buffy asked.

Gillian looked away touching her throat and Sally buried her face in her hands. "I killed him with a frying pan."

"Huh," Buffy replied. "You ever thought of becoming a Watcher?" A dark eye opened her way as Willow snorted a little but clasped her hand over her mouth so she didn't laugh out loud. "What?" Buffy replied at the incredulous looks she was getting. "Spur of the moment thinking… Wesley never could figure that out."

Willow nodded. "He screamed like a girl most of the time."

"He was a sucky Watcher," Buffy agreed.

"You two do this all the time?" Gillian asked as she reached over and stroked Willow's hair.

"Live on the mouth of hell and it happens," Buffy told her nonchalantly.

"Dead people… rising," Gillian said.

"Vampires, lots of them," Buffy replied.

"Spike," Willow said with a shudder.

"Drusilla," Buffy continued.

"The Master," Willow offered.

"The bastard," Buffy said to that making a face.

"There was a vampire called the Bastard?" Sally asked.

"No, the Master was a bastard, with fruit punch mouth and really bad skin," Buffy told her.

"So Vampires then," Gillian said looking relieved that that was all there was there.

"Werewolves," Willow started.

"Evil witches," Buffy supplied.

"The judge."

"Ethan."

"Angelus."

... "That's not fair," Buffy said to Willow's comment breaking the silence.

"He got better," Willow offered. "I like Angel."

Buffy made a face. "And now he's leaving, stupid vampire." Gillian and Sally looked confused. Buffy saw the look knowing questions would come up about that. "So, needles in eyes?"

The two women gave strangled laughs. "Somehow I didn't thing needles in eyes would bother you so much," Sally said.

"Eh," the two girls replied to that shrugging in unison.

"So is it gone now?" Sally asked looking to the teenagers. There was another look and a shrug from them both.

"No clue," Buffy told her. "Usually this is where we get out the old books and research. Or Willow and Giles research while Xander and I flip through them and Xander gets donuts and I patrol."

"From the looks of the spell," Willow said sitting by Buffy, she swallowed when she saw the two women look her way, "from what Giles always told us, things brought back are usually evil."

"Like it says there," Buffy said pointing to the words Sally had read to her. "Evil."

Sally slumped back in her seat as Gillian sat down across from her by Willow. There was another lingering of silence as the sisters looked to each other and Buffy slammed the book shut standing up. "You two knew," she accused them.

There was a glance at the Slayer and Willow's eyes went wide. "Why?" she whispered to her mother and aunt. "Why would you bring something evil into the world?

Gillian shook her head as she lit up a cigarette and took a long inhale on it while Sally buried her head in her arms on the table. "You wouldn't understand," Gillian told the two girls seriously.

"Died!" Buffy said motioning to herself then pointed at Willow. "Pursued and almost killed by an evil robot demon! I think we just might understand!"

"That summoning wasn't my fault!" Willow told her friend.

"That was Giles's technophobe fault, we know," Buffy assured her.

Willow slouched down in her seat with a scowl. Buffy looked to the two women. "What the hell was so important that you had to not only bring him back from the dead but the evil dead on top of it?"

"My girls," Sally whispered and Gillian's eyes pained as she looked away. "I killed him, overdosed him on accident but it was my fault. I'm the only thing my daughters have and I'm not going to lose them." She looked up at Buffy with tears in her eyes. "I would kill for them if I had to; just like I would for Gilly, but the law doesn't care." The tears ran down her cheeks. "They lost their father to magic. I thought magic for once would help me out for my daughters' sake." She looked to the table. "I was wrong."

Buffy sat down again and let out a sigh. This was different that the stupid reasons for evil in Sunnydale. This was to protect her sister and in the end protect her daughters so they had their mother.

"Jimmy was a son of a bitch," Gillian told her.

"Now he's a son of a bitch times ten," Buffy replied.

"Couldn't you of… just dumped him in the desert?" Willow offered.

Gillian snorted out a laugh. "Wasn't thinking about it then."

"Too far away by then too," Sally replied wiping her eyes as she sat back in her seat and looked to Buffy. "Whatever needs to be done, I'll do it. But I won't give up my daughters."

Buffy nodded. "My mom is the same way, you two would like each other." She looked to Willow then to the two women. "Show us all the magic books, any books on this stuff you have, it's time to research." Willow clapped at that and Buffy rolled her eyes. "It's Will's natural element."

Sally thought about it. "The Aunts have books all over the place, I've never read more than two or three on anything magic like."

Gillian nodded in agreement. "Not unless it was interesting. Sex magic-," she said with a sexy smile.

"They banned you from," Sally finished.

"They didn't hide things so well," Gillian replied as she stood up and put her cigarette out. "Let's see what we can find." She smiled dragging Willow up and put her arm about her. "My girl's with me!" She took the smaller redhead with her out of the dining room, Willow looked scared at this.

Sally and Buffy looked to each other. "I think she'd going to fry Willow's brain out with kinky spell books," Buffy told her.

Sally nodded but smiled slightly. "I would bet on it."

ooooooo

It was over an hour later that the four women had stacked books on the dining room table that they had gathered from all over the house that related to anything about magic or the supernatural. There were at least thirty and Buffy looked to Sally as she set down a stack of five on another stack since there was no room left from Willow who was in a cleared space devouring every word in the book she had. Her mother on the other hand was sitting at the end of the table in a causal reading pose, rocking back and forth in her seat on two legs as she thumbed through a book Sally had deemed off limits to anyone under 21.

"Is this it?" Buffy asked looking to Willow's aunt.

Sally let out a breath. "I have no idea. The Aunts have magic stuff everywhere."

"There's probably more," Gillian replied back looking their way then to where Willow's red head was bent over a book and she shuddered. "My darling child, a book worm."

Sally sat down across from Willow and took a book up. "What are we looking for exactly?" she asked.

"Powerful ghosts is my guess," Buffy said sitting at the other end opposite Gillian. "Will?" Willow didn't say anything and Gillian grinned as she slid the open book she was flipping through on top of Willow's.

Willow blinked and tilted her head looking at the risqué picture in front of her then frowned. Sally peered over to see what it was only to grab the book away. "Gillian!" she said then looked herself, also tilting her head.

"Neither of us are virgins, mind you," Buffy replied.

Willow blinked a few times. "Is that possible?" she asked about the picture probably not realizing she said that out loud. Gillian nodded with a happy grin knowing what Willow was talking about from the book she had slid her way.

"Gillian! Stop corrupting her already!" Sally told her sister.

"What? Knowing about pleasurable things isn't bad," Gillian replied. "Besides, she MY daughter."

Sally slumped her head down onto the table. "She's eighteen," she muttered.

"She's not a virgin, I had her when I was seventeen," Gillian told her.

Willow watched them. "That's weird when you think about it."

Buffy nodded. "I think my mom was in her mid twenties when she had me," she told them then shuddered. "I try not to think about her having sex… ever."

"What about when you could read minds?" Willow asked as she thought of something and began to look around the room as the two Owens' looked Buffy's way curiously.

"Demon goo made it happen and it about drove me insane," Buffy told them then glared at Willow who was still looking about. "Don't remind me, I see my mom and Giles getting' it on and ew," she got out with a shudder.

"What are you doing?" Gillian asked her daughter.

"I need something to write on, and with," Willow told them. "I didn't bring anything with me."

Sally smiled getting up she left the room. Gillian looked to Willow. "You really study a lot?"

Buffy rolled her eyes and nodded. "She got me and Xander through high school, thank god. She even got an offer to I.M.P. or wherever-," she said then looked to Willow.

"I'm staying, fight the good fight," Willow said and smiled as Sally came back with a notebook and a handful of pencils and pens. "And it's MIT."

Sally's eyes went wide. "You were accepted to MIT."

Buffy grinned. "She's a hacker. But don't tell stud muffin badge boy that."

Gillian chuckled as she took her book back from where Sally had set it down. "Is there anything you can't do?" Sally asked.

"Cook," Willow said.

"Sing," Buffy helped out and Willow nodded at that one.

"Fighting, I'm not so good at, so that's why I want to learn magic so much," Willow told them as she laid her research stuff out, "to back Buffy and Xander up instead of being bait." She shook her head as she automatically handed some blank sheets of paper to Buffy. "It's not as fun as it sounds," she told them and Gillian looked a little put out at that.

"So what is it we're looking for?" Buffy asked her friend.

"Ghost, but mega ghosts, like exorcist kind. He could possess you," Willow said to Gillian. "But it might be because you're an anchor. Possession, vengeance of the undead, I mean, he was dead then undead and now dead again and a ghost or poltergeist," Willow finished.

Sally looked to the books. "If the Aunts were here they'd know what to do," she muttered.

"But they're not," Buffy told her seriously. "And because you didn't know you got into trouble." The two women looked her way and she shrugged. "Happens all the time."

Four Hours Later around midnight…

Willow sat back and stretched. Sally was reading but looked confused. Gillian and Buffy were still at the ends of the table but both were flipping through books, looking but not reading. Both looked bored and they were chatting.

"I just don't get how you can live this close to New York and not go there," Buffy was saying.

"Even New York can get a little old," Gillian replied.

"Heresy," Buffy reprimanded with a shake of her head. She stopped at a page and slowly she tilted her head to look at it. "Ew, that position is major painage there."

Sally didn't even look up from where she was reading as she took the book away from her. "Are you sure you aren't my mother?" Willow asked softly to her aunt.

Sally smiled as Gillian frowned, pinching Willow's arm lightly at that remark. "You are mine. Stuffy here is your aunt, so behave."

"Have we found anything yet?" Buffy asked. "Because it's getting late and I could go for coffee or something about now. I still need to patrol."

Sally shook her head sitting back. "The Aunts never worried about anything. What would you be patrolling for?"

"Things that go bump in the night," Gillian replied then smiled. "Can I go?"

Buffy blinked looking to Willow and she shrugged. "Why not?"

"I think he's become a poltergeist," Willow told them.

"And what do we do to get rid of one?" Sally asked.

"Call Ghostbusters?" Buffy asked.

"Isn't that us?" Willow asked.

"We've only dealt with one ghost and we had Angel that time. How do we get rid of it?" she asked.

Sally rolled her eyes looking at her sister. "Didn't I just ask that?"

Willow looked to her books. "I'm not sure yet."

Buffy closed her book. "I'm tired, you're all tired. Let's work on it in the morning."

"What if he comes back?" Gillian asked.

Buffy sighed. "I'll try that stepping into him thing again." She looked at Gillian who looked worried.

"We could study more," Willow offered.

Sally shook her head. "No, we go to bed. We'll start again tomorrow."

They left the books there and when to their respective rooms. Buffy lay down on her bed and Willow joined her. "Would the Aunts know what to do?" Buffy asked.

"I think so," Willow whispered back curling up by her friend. "They've got years of experience being actual witches. It's probably in those books. Giles makes it easier."

"We could call and ask for his help," Buffy reminded her.

Willow nodded as her eyes closed. "Tomorrow." She was really tired.

ooooooo

Sally woke up the next morning to get her daughters off to school. She rubbed her eyes and jerked where she lay when she spotted Buffy standing in the doorway. "Wha-," she started but Buffy motioned to where Gillian lay by her sound asleep in the large bed. Sally looked over to see Gillian was sweating a little and not looking very good.

"He's not gone, is he," she stated.

Buffy shook her head. "We need to watch her," she said nodding to Gillian.

"Where's Willow?" Sally asked.

"Neither of us are morning people, but I have this little evil sensor in my Slayer head that doesn't let me sleep through something like this," Buffy replied. "She's still in bed."

Sally nodded and shooed her out of her room to get dressed. She watched Gillian sleep and she sighed. "Doesn't life ever get easy?" she murmured as she slipped on her shoes and left the room and got her daughters up.

She went downstairs to see her niece slumped on the table over the books completely out of it and still in her clothes from the day before sans shoes. She pushed through the doorway into the kitchen to see Buffy leaning up against the counter by the coffee maker with her eyes shut.

"So more studying today?" Sally asked as she pulled down a box of cereal and got the milk from the fridge.

"Research sounds more with the goodness, doesn't it?" Buffy asked opening an eye. "We were thinking of calling my Watcher and having him help us… study." They both smiled a little.

"What's a Watcher?" Sally asked. "You mentioned it before, saying I'd make a good one?"

Buffy nodded as the coffee finished brewing and she poured three mugs full, handing one to Sally then taking a sip of hers while going out with the other to Willow, only to return to her position once more.

"A watcher," she started then made a face. "A watcher in my watcher's terms, is one who trains and helps the current Slayer. The Watcher's Council, sees a Slayer as an expendable tool."

Sally's brow furrowed as she sipped her coffee. "But you're in the Aunt's book, why would they be so callous?"

Buffy shrugged. "I die, another one comes and they do the same thing over and over again. There's always a Slayer."

Sally looked curiously at her. "I thought you said you died when we were talking last night?"

Buffy nodded. "Drowned at the hands of the Master," she said looking into her cup not comfortable talking about it, but she could deal with it. "Xander, our friend, he used CPR, brought me back."

Sally nodded watching her. "So there was another one called."

Buffy nodded. "She died less than a year after being called. Then came Faith."

Sally saw the brown eyes were upset and sad. "Is she dead too?" she asked.

Buffy shook her head. "No, coma," she replied then sipped her drink. "Long story."

Sally nodded but Buffy sighed. "The Watcher's Council didn't like Willow and Xander helping me, being my friends. They wanted Slayers to be isolated, to depend on their Watcher and the Council for everything. I wouldn't do it and Giles, my Watcher, supported me instead of them."

Sally sat at the table watching her, interested now. "What happened?" she asked.

"They fired Giles and I quit. Not until they brought another Watcher in. Wesley, he would trip over his own feet," Buffy replied. "He didn't care about what happened to me or Faith, we were just tools." She sat down across from Sally. "You're like Giles. You care, you're smart on your feet and you did something really courageous by saving your sister's life."

Sally chewed on her bottom lip at that compliment. "I have the girls."

"I'm just saying," Buffy replied. "You would be a totally awesome Watcher."

Sally chuckled and raised her mug in salute to Buffy. "Thank you."

Willow came in through the doors looking better than before with an empty coffee mug in her hand as she headed for the pot. "What's going on?" she asked as she poured herself another cup.

"I was telling your Aunt that she'd make a kick ass Watcher," Buffy replied.

Willow nodded. "Anything's better than the ones that came here that time," she muttered as she took a sip of coffee then winced realizing how that sounded with a glance at her Aunt. "Sorry."

Sally smirked. "I get what you're saying," she told her niece and Willow looked relieved. She stood up as Kylie and Antonia came in dressed for school with backpacks and brushes to get their hair done.

Buffy helped Kylie as Sally did Antonia's hair and after a breakfast of cold cereal she was off, taking them to school as Buffy and Willow, with Sally's permission, called Giles.

'Hello,' a familiar British voice said tiredly over the phone.

"What time is it back there?" Buffy asked.

'If you have to ask, it's too early,' Giles informed her.

"Sorry, Giles," Buffy replied.

'How is it going with Willow and her birth mother?' Giles asked.

Buffy looked to Willow who was buried in a book again but listening as hazel eyes peered up to look at her. "Good…" she said. "Sort of." There was silence on the other end. "Giles?" Buffy asked.

'What has occurred?' Giles asked.

"Well, we found Willow's mom, her name is Gillian," Buffy started.

'Yes, which Willow told me many times before you two left for New England,' Giles reminded her with a sigh in his voice that he wanted to sleep.

"She has an aunt, her name is Sally who has two daughters. Gillian and Sally, they grew up with their Aunts, Jet and…" she winced trying to think of the other one's name.

"Fran," Willow supplied still reading and copying into her second notebook.

"Fran," Buffy repeated. There was a long measure of silence.

'And?' Giles asked. 'I do hope there is an and or I will be put out with you, Buffy.'

"They're witches," Buffy told him quickly. More silence followed and Willow watched Buffy worriedly to see what this news would do to their mentor.

'Isn't that a bit unkind?' Giles started.

"No, real witches, Giles," Buffy said. "Spell books and all the potions you can wave a wand at. Maria, the founder of the island was a witch. She's Willow's great, great, great… lots of great- grandmother."

'Dear me,' Giles said and the sound of him sitting up was heard. 'So Willow-.'

"Is a witch, generational even," Buffy finished.

'Dear god, she needs to learn-,' he started.

"Yeah, yeah, her Aunts are on that," Buffy said. "It's not why I'm calling."

'There's more?' Giles asked stunned.

Buffy sat down by Willow twirling the phone cord in her fingers. "Willow's mom and Aunt… they don't really practice."

'Witchcraft,' Giles comfirmed.

"Yup," Buffy replied.

'Did something happen?' he asked as they girls heard the front door close and they saw Sally come through to the living room with Officer Hallett following her. The two girls could tell they were pretty much gone for each other. 'Buffy?' Giles asked wanting to know why he wasn't being answered.

"Well, Sally she accidentally killed Gillian's boyfriend to save Gillian's life," Buffy told him.

'Oh dear,' Giles replied.

"Yeah, they buried him in the backyard," Buffy said then sighed. "Well, they did that after they did a spell to bring him back so Sally wouldn't go to prison for killing him. She had to kill him again so he didn't kill Gillian… again." They two girls looked at each other realizing this was very Hellmouthy sounding.

There was a long bout of silence this time. 'Are they mad?' he asked in disbelief.

Buffy looked to Willow. "Giles wants to know if your mother and Aunt are mad?" she asked quietly.

Willow shook her head. "I think Sally's in love and my mom is possessed by an evil dead ex-lover," she replied.

"Did you get that?" Buffy asked knowing Giles had heard Willow.

Giles sighed knowing the two were in form to be annoying on purpose and that Buffy loved to tease him. 'So you need my help in getting rid of this spirit,' he said.

"Pretty much, yeah," Buffy replied. "We've been researching in the books the Aunts have about the place, and honestly Giles, why was there no 411 on sex spells?" The two teenagers giggled as Giles spluttered about on the phone demanding to know where they were learning this.

Sally and the Officer were arguing while this happened. "You think they're going to kiss and make up when this is done?" Willow asked her best friend.

"At the rate those hormones are sparking the wattage, I'd say yeah," Buffy replied as Giles regain his demeanor on the other end of the line.

'What is this?' Giles asked.

"There's an Arizona cop here looking for the dead boyfriend," Buffy supplied.

Giles sighed. 'There's nothing I can do about that, but I will research into this spirit for you,' he told her.

"Sooner the better," Buffy replied. "I think it's going to go down today."

She and Willow said goodbye to Giles and Buffy hung up as Sally was waving her arms about with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I wrote it because I knew someone like that didn't exist!" she told him and the look on her face, the two girls nodded, she was in love. "But you do," she whispered. It was the letter sent so long ago when Sally was a child so that she would never fall in love and lose someone like her parents did.

"This is better than Days of our Lives," Buffy replied and the two adults looked to them. Willow went red, burying her face in her book but Buffy's eyebrows went up. "You two can make out when Mr. Jekyll is gone."

"Mr. Hyde," Willow murmured automatically.

"You mean he isn't?" Officer Hallett asked coming their way.

"Nope," Buffy replied as she sat back in her chair. "How bad was this boyfriend when he was alive?" she asked.

"Bad," Officer Hallett replied.

"Now he's worse and he wants revenge," Buffy told him.

"Who wants revenge?" Gillian asked from the doorway looking at them like nothing was wrong. The others watched her and an eyebrow went up at that as she went around Sally and the Officer with a grin. "Everything's fine now, Officer, no need to stay here."

Buffy stood up defensively as Gillian came towards the table. The redheads eyes blinked slowly and Buffy saw the glint there in her eyes that Jimmy was in residence and she jumped the table aiming her fist at Gillian's head to knock her out.

"Shit!" Officer Hallett cried out in alarm never seeing anyone move that fast as he pulled out his gun. Problem was, Gillian moved faster.

Willow found herself pressed up to her mother's front with an arm about her throat. She never even saw it coming as she struggled to try and break her mother's grip only to find out it was really strong. "What are you?" the ghostly voice of Jimmy Angelov asked Buffy. Willow shivered in her mother's arm knowing this was not good as Buffy stalked them, the Slayer now out.

"Someone you don't want to mess with," Buffy told him seriously.

Willow whimpered as the arm tightened about her neck cutting off a lot of air to her throat warning Buffy to stay away or Willow would be dead, the Slayer slowed but was just waiting. "But things have changed now little girl, I am immortal and this body is mine," Gillian/Jimmy replied as he leaned over Willow and kissed her ear. "As is her daughter," he said with a dark laugh that just irked all four of them. "Witches, who knew?"

There was a clang and Gillian/Jimmy slumped forward throwing Willow unexpectedly forward at the dead weight. Buffy was there holding Gillian's body away from her. Sally looked worried as she looked to her sister as the pot she was holding dropped to the floor. Jimmy had been so intent on watching the Slayer he forgot about Sally who had grabbed up a pot and hit him with it.

"I- I didn't know what else to do," Sally said looking to Gillian. "Gilly?" she got out stroking her sister's cheek as Willow knelt by them.

"She's alive," Buffy told her. "Spirits like to keep their 'hosts' alive."

Officer Hallett shook his head in disbelief with what went on not sure where to point his gun at. "What the hell is going on?" he asked.

Jet and Fran came in with their luggage to see all of this. "Oh dear, we're a little slow on our timing Fran," Jet said coming over to where Buffy had put Gillian in Sally's arms while Fran said something to Officer Hallett who was gone a moment later, he came 'to' a few hours later sitting in his room looking out the window wondering what was going on.

ooooooo

It was almost midday as Willow found herself sitting between Buffy and Sally on the couch, while her ex-boyfriend possessed mother was bound securely to a recliner and sweaty profusely. She was still unconscious, the blow Sally gave her didn't really even seem to hurt her, just knock her out. Jet was doing something with herbs around Gillian while Fran wrung out a washcloth and wiped away some of the perspiration.

"He's just squatting in her like a toad," Jet said briskly to Sally. Willow shuddered at the word 'toad. "You can't just dabble in magic while you look down your nose at it and not expect some consequences."

"I know," Sally muttered to her aunt from a throw pillow she had buried her face in. "I know."

"Then you know we're going to have to banish him," Fran replied. She pointed at Willow. "You are going to help me with a potion my little witch."

Willow looked to her mother. "What about mom?" she asked quietly.

"Your mother will be fine," Jet replied kindly. "Don't you worry about that. But to do this, to get the power we need we're going to need a coven."

"Nine at least," Fran said to her sister.

"Twelve would be better," Jet replied.

"I've done magic on my own," Willow said not understanding. "Maybe a few times with Giles when we needed fast Latin words. But why a coven?"

Jet came over and knelt in front of her smiling with great love, but her eyes were very serious. "You have been learning bad habits from those who don't know what true magic is, sweetheart. You have power, incredible power that will one day make you one of the greatest witches on Earth. But untrained, casting blindly is so dangerous. Not just to what might happen to others, but to you. Until you learn the correct way," she said glancing to Sally putting her in this category too, "you do not cast unless either I or your Aunt Fran say so. Understood?" she said to her.

Willow nodded. "What about when we go back to Sunnydale?" Willow whispered. "It'll just be me again, I don't have a coven."

"You will find one then starting with your friends, you will be the anchor," Fran said coming her way. "It's your power, but each person in that coven will focus and harness that energy so that you can manage it, casting alone only when you are in dire need."

"Which is pretty much all the time," Buffy told them.

The Aunts looked to each other. "Then we'll start with learning how to cast alone first," Jet told Willow patting her hand then cupping the young redhead's cheek. "True witch?" she asked.

Willow nodded knowing they were asking her if she was willing to work to be trained. "True witch," she replied.

"Then plan to spend the summer here and summer's after," Jet replied. She motioned to Sally. "There are four of us, we'll need more."

"Uh, five, me too," Buffy replied.

"Oh no," Fran said. "We've never added a Slayer to our coven, your power is strong which would off balance us when we cast unless we prepare ourselves for such a thing, which we don't have time for. You will be making sure that this spirit doesn't get free of the house."

Willow smiled at her friend. "Always the muscle," she told her.

Buffy sighed. "Seems that way doesn't it?"

The two Aunts looked to Sally. "Do you have any friends, darling?" Fran asked.

Sally sighed as she thought about it then a smile came to her face as she headed for the kitchen. She wasn't gone more than five minutes when there was a knock at the front door. The Aunts looked to each other and Jet shrugged. "Willow, would you be a dear and answer the door?" she asked.

Willow nodded and headed out of the living room to the foyer and opened the door. A dark headed youth stood there with a grin on his face. "What is it with your real family Will? You know how many crazy looks I got asking for the Owens place?" Xander asked.

"Xander!" Willow said pretty much leaping onto him and hugging him tightly.

"Good to see you too Will," Xander replied hugging her back just as hard. "Cool old house," he said once they let go.

Willow shook her head dragging him inside. Babbling a mile a minute about what was going on. He took it all in stride smiling as she led him into the living room and Buffy grinned at the sight of him coming her way, she hugged him tightly until he good naturedly complained about breathing becoming a problem.

The Aunts smiled seeing a handsome young man in their house, which was rare. "Willow dear, who is your friend?" Fran asked.

Willow stilled realizing she hadn't introduced him as she held Xander's hand. "Xander, these are my great aunts, Jet and Fran Owens," she told him. "This is Xander, he's our best friend."

The two came his way and Xander's eyes widened at this as the smiles curled into lazy smirks. "Seems you've got a bit of animal inside you," Fran said looking him over magically with a wave of her hand and a touch to his forehead.

"Possessed by a hyena last year," Buffy told them.

The two women nodded as if that was a commonplace answer. Xander looked wide eyed at Buffy. "Are we telling everyone about Sunny D's nightlife?" he asked then he noticed Gillian tied up in a chair, they all noticed him noticing.

"That's my mom," Willow replied.

Xander blinked a couple of times. "So, is this some strange New Englandly type ritual we Westerners just don't know about? 'Cause I could go for that."

Buffy and Willow both smacked his arms. "Ew! That's my mom Xander," Willow told him.

"Guy here, Buffy's mom is hot too," he replied and Buffy shuddered at that.

"Not that we aren't happy to see you, but you said you wouldn't get up this far for weeks," Buffy reminded him.

Xander blushed. "Took a wrong turn," he said as he was sat down on the couch. "Ended up closer to here so I came early…" his voice trailed off. "So why is she tied up?"

"Ooo boy," Buffy said looking to the others. "I'll let them get with the 'splainy."

"I'm a witch," Willow said happily to Xander.

Xander nodded slowly. "That's old news, Will. You've been doing that a while now."

"No, a real witch, the Owens are witches," Willow replied.

Xander looked thoughtful then to the Aunts. They smiled. "You're witches?" he asked.

"For many generations," Jet replied.

He nodded to the unconscious Gillian and Willow nodded. "Witch."

"Dabbler," Jet and Fran replied at the same time.

"How come so many of Will's spells went kerfloophy?" he asked.

"Kerfloophy?" Buffy repeated curiously.

"I'm trying new words out, expanding ones vocabulary is never of the bad," Xander stated.

"She's untrained and dabbling on her own. Her mother," Fran said and they all glanced at Gillian, "is a dabbler. We trained them a little but they never wanted to practice the art seriously. That lead to Willow not being trained either."

Xander nodded at this as Sally came out from the kitchen. "We need one more, but I have oth-," she stopped seeing Xander there. Men just really didn't come to the Owens house. She looked to see the two girls by him. "Xander?" she asked. The two girls nodded happily. Sally nodded a little and looked to her Aunts. "Can we use him?"

Xander flinched at that, he was too used to being used for some ritual or sacrifice NOT to flinch at that type of comment. "I'm not some butt monkey," he told them.

The two Aunts laughed and Sally looked confused. "I think they mean for the coven," Willow replied. "To be in it. My mom's possessed and we have to banish her evil dead ex-boyfriend."

Xander nodded slowly then pinched his arm and yelped when it hurt. "This is New England, right?" he asked. "Not some Hellmouth dream?" The women shook their heads at him. Xander closed his eyes and leaned back on the couch. "Oh boy."

"My thoughts exactly," Sally said.

"We need to move Gillian into another room," Jet said as Fran held out a hand to Willow who took it happily, she was going to learn and help her mother at the same time. "Buffy, if you would help with that."

Buffy got behind the recliner and pushed only to have a trail of toads come out from underneath the chair making Willow scream. Fran held her making her look at this as Buffy got the chair out of the room leaving over fifty toads on the floor. "Face your fears, my little witch," she told her niece as Sally and Xander got them into a basket to take outside. "That 'thing' in your mother is going to do everything it can to hurt you, don't let it," she said.

Willow was shivering as she watched but she wouldn't touch or go near them. Fran patted her arm when half of them were taken out since the basket was full. "Come then," she said.

Xander was sitting at the table watching and eating on the remains of a bowl full of brownie batter as Willow absorbed everything Fran told her as they mixed a huge kettle full of stuff. "This potion will make the land clean and pure again," Fran told Willow as she sifted some dried herbs from her fingers into the bubbling pot. "It will work just as well or even better than holy water."

Xander sat up at that. "You need to learn to make it Will," he told his friend. "We're going to need a lot of it."

"This will banish a spirit back to its grave," Fran told them. "Once you get it back there."

"Won't it just come out again?" Willow asked.

Fran smiled. "The ground above it will be more pure than a lake of holy water, a vampire would burn into ash to try and dig its way out."

"Have you tried that?" Xander asked and Fran raised an eyebrow at him with the look that she just might have. Xander stared in awe. "I think I love you guys."

Fran's eyebrow raised a little higher appraising him over and he blushed. "You are a handsome devil, but a little to young for me. Come back in a few years."

Willow grinned trying not to laugh as her Aunt teased her friend.

ooooooo

It wasn't much later after the potion was finished and simmering on the large stove in the kitchen that Willow was sitting in a chair keeping an eye on her mother while Buffy went to use the bathroom and get something to eat. It was weird now because she was awake and her eyes were cold and hard and eerily not her normal green color. Willow had a spell book in hand reading up on some information Giles had called with not too long ago.

They had to get the spirit out of Gillian's body and banish it to the grave then consecrate the ground so that it could never arise again. The Aunts knew this but were impressed with 'this Mr. Giles' as Jet called him in getting the information to them so quickly.

'Such a pretty face,' Gillian/Jimmy said to her in that creepy voice. 'So like your mother.' He grinned leering at her. 'Are you a slut like her? A whore?'

Willow clenched her fingers around the edges of the book trying not to show that the words hurt.

'She never wanted you, she want to leave me and find someone else. There's always someone else, little Willow tree,' he whispered to her. 'She will never want you.'

Sally came storming in as a tear trickled down Willow's cheek and he laughed. Sally slapped a piece of duct tape over Gillian/Jimmy's mouth. "Just shut up," she warned him. She turned to Willow. "Don't listen to him, Willow. He was a bastard when he was alive, all he wants to do is hurt you. Gillian loves you," she whispered as she crouched down by her making Willow look her in the eye. "She does, she was so excited when you came here. Believe in it, in her."

Willow nodded as she wiped the tears away and Buffy came back in with a freshly baked brownie dripping with frosting. She took a bite then offered it to Willow who shook her head at it. Buffy took another bite grinning viciously at Gillian/Jimmy. "Miss that?" she asked as she leaned in. "Eating, sleeping, beating on people. We're going to banish your ass to hell, then lets see which demon will make you his bitch."

She finished off the brownie and Willow looked to her friend. Buffy shrugged. "I'm in a mood," she replied motioning for Willow to vacate her chair, "and I think I'm PMSing. The Aunts want to see you."

Willow nodded, leaving the room to glance back and see Buffy filing her nails talking about the latest fashion wear sale at Saks, which she so wanted to go to on the way home. Jimmy was starting to look annoyed and a little bored.

Two hours later…

Willow was dressed in a black cloak the Aunts had given her and Xander to wear. She was watching worriedly from the doorway to the living room to where her mother was lying on the floor surrounded by a circle of blessed salt and thistle while Fran chanted a spell over it as she made the circle. Magic light flared from it when the spell was cast and for the time being Jimmy was trapped there. Gillian was panting, sweating and groaning in pain and it took all she had not to want to try and comfort her. Sally had been worse, Fran had dragged her out of the room and put her to a task.

The doorbell rang bringing Willow out of her memories and the three Sunnydalians watched as women arrived in black cloaks and carrying brooms. Carla and Linda from the shop were the first to arrive along with five others, all moms from the PTA phone tree list Sally was in charge of, though that had happened through Gillian's manipulations.

Xander was the only guys in the middle of a bunch of soccer moms and all of them curiously looked his way making him smile. "The guys at home are never going to believe this," he said.

"Aren't we 'the guys'?" Buffy asked motioning to her and Willow.

"I have guy friends-," he defended as he thought about it, realizing that he didn't really, "- that aren't you," he finished lamely.

"Uh huh," Buffy replied not believing him.

Fran came into the kitchen in her black robes looking regal and very much like a witch when she smiled to them all. "Are we ready to do this?" she asked.

All of them held up their brooms. One woman, tall, thin and lanky with short light red hair looked to them. "I didn't have a broom, will this do?" she asks holding up a dustbuster.

The teens looked to each other as the hyper excited women cheered. "This is as crazy as Sunnydale, I'll give you that," Xander told them. "How did your Aunt get them to come?" he asked Willow. "It's not like 'we're all witches and your mom's possessed' would get me comin'." He made a face at that. "Well, I might, but-."

"We get the gist, Xander," Buffy interjected. "I think it was more like Gillian was heartbroken over losing her boyfriend and she's depressed or something like that."

Xander nodded as Fran and Jet got everyone moving into the living room, the three teens were the last to follow. "I can see that working," he said with an arm about Willow's shoulders.

Candles lit the room and even though it was midday the sun seemed to hide leaving the room darker than normal. The women went silent to see Gillian in such a state. Her hair was soaked and matted and she seemed to have no strength where she lay on the floor. "Whoa," one of the women said. "I've lost boyfriends before, but she's taking it hard."

Gillian clawed lightly at the floor, her body in pain as Gillian/Jimmy looked to the women then to Willow. "Please, Willow, help mommy." The eyes of the newcomers looked to Willow who had watery eyes. "Help me."

"Everyone form a circle," Jet told them. "Brooms out like so," she told them and by example the coven made a circle over the one they had created earlier on the floor.

Fran closed her eyes and began to chant in Latin. Willow could feel the shift of magic in the room. Jet joined her repeating the same thing as the other women looked curiously to them as Sally then Willow began to chant. Xander picked it up next since he had heard Latin so much over the past three years.

"Are we supposed to say this too?" one of the women asked.

Soon all of the women were chanting it and Gillian/Jimmy began to gasp for air rolling onto her back her body arched up a little groaning in pain. As the chanting got louder she rolled over again screaming in pain. Sally and Willow looked worried as Gillian/Jimmy held her hand out begging them to stop.

Sally broke first. "Stop it, you're hurting her!" she told them. The chanting continued and Willow pulled away when Gillian/Jimmy screamed again. The power of the circle dimmed dramatically but they continued on as Sally got down on the floor looking right at Gillian. "Gillian!" she called out.

Gillian looked up at her, her eyes were angry and black as night. 'Fight this you bitch!' Jimmy's voice came out in his unearthly tone and Gillian/Jimmy got up running to grab Sally only to hit the magical barrier and slump back to the ground. Sally had scrambled away from the voice running into the chairs that were stacked by the wall to make room for the coven.

Jimmy seemed to be knocked out of the forefront of Gillian's body as the woman's regular voice came back, panting and crying in pain. Xander held Willow as Sally untangled herself from the chairs and crawled over to where Gillian lay, keeping herself on the outside of the magical circle.

"Gillian," Sally cried through the tears.

"Just let him take me," Gillian got out panting in pain. "I'm so tired."

Sally shook her head as tears streamed down her cheeks. "You are not going to die on me, Gilly Owens! You promised me we would die together!"

Gillian shook her head as tears welled in her eyes, the pain on her face made everyone hurt. "Look after Willow for me."

"No!" Sally demanded slamming her hand down on the floor as she pulled her long hair back from her face. "You promised me! We'll fight him together!"

Gillian swallowed hard as if even that hurt. "Sally…"

"Promise me," Sally whispered lying down by her, her face radiating fear and determination. "Promise. Willow needs you. I need you."

Gillian's eyes looked over to Willow who was almost buried in Xander's arms. Tears had stained the pale girl's face. "Please," she asked her mother.

Gillian swallowed another pain filled cry then nodded. "Okay."

Willow let go of Xander and came to where Sally lay. "I have an idea," she said looking to the Aunts. Jet and Fran looked curious. "It was an idea Giles gave me. I brought back the soul of Angel to his body. Why can't we pull the soul of Jimmy out?"

The women who weren't in the know now looked worried and curious. "You mean she's really possessed?" one of them asked.

Buffy sighed. "Yes, you can not believe in it tomorrow, think it's all a dream and go on with your lives, but for now, yes."

The women looked to one another then Carla nodded. "I'm in, she needs our help."

Slowly one by one the others agreed and Willow smiled as she raced out of the room and came back with a sheet of paper and Jimmy's ring that Buffy had kept. She handed them both over to the Aunts who read the paper, then looked to Willow.

"You made this up today?" Fran asked.

Willow nodded. "I took the idea from another spell."

Jet nodded as she left the room and returned with a bottle of wine, a small dagger and a glass vial with a crushed green plant in it. Fran set the ring down on the floor then using the herb she made three circles around it chanting under her breath as Jet opened the wine and put some in a copper goblet.

Willow knelt by Sally who was kneeling, watching between this and Gillian. "What's going on?" Sally whispered.

Willow smiled. "Good old fashioned magic, Sunnydale style."

Gillian/Jimmy watched them, he had come back. 'I won't leave her,' he told them. "She is mine."

Fran motioned Buffy over and they did something to the circles around the rings that the others couldn't see. But Buffy was sucking on her thumb as she moved back to the doorway once Fran was done.

She and Jet came over. Jet with the goblet and Fran with the dagger. Gillian/Jimmy watched them warily. 'I will not leave her, witches that you are, she is mine!' he warned them.

Sally took a small bottle of hard liquor from Jet and cracked the seal open taking a large drink of it. "Tequila, Jimmy," she said waving the bottle in front of him. "Miss it? Want it?" she asked as she took another drink.

Gillian/Jimmy actually licked his lips and grabbed for the bottle. Sally caught up his wrist and held it there as Fran took the dagger and sliced Gillian's hand lightly open then Sally's free hand as she let the bottle go. Jet caught some of their blood in the cup before Sally clasped their sliced hands together and magic filled the air.

Gillian/Jimmy growled in anger as they tried to pull away only to have a strong hand clasp their other wrist. Finding they couldn't move it they looked to see Buffy holding it as that hand was sliced lightly open as well, then Willow's hand was and more blood was caught in the cup and the magical power blew a wind through the room lighting it up as mother and daughter's hands were clasped together.

Willow took up her paper and began to form her spell.

"Mare, germana, filla, som nosaltres,
Units per la sang, units per la família,
Demanem a Maria, mare de la nostra línia de
Fes fos el que no té sang Owens.

No ho deixi tornar, allunyar-lo
D'obligar a ell, el segell de la seva ànima per a quedar-se,
Com un amb el seu anell, que ningú li trenquen lliure
Segell d'allí per tota l'eternitat.

Feliços els de la línia de Owens,
Feliços nosaltres per tot el temps,
Sigui!"

As she spoke it seemed as if Jimmy's soul was slowly pried out of Gillian's body. The women all gasped, backing away as the ghostly form of Jimmy Angelov's head came from Gillian. Sally held onto her and when Willow finished the spell magic coursed through all three of them spreading out to everyone in the room as Jimmy screamed, his form was ripped completely from Gillian who slumped into Sally's arms unconscious.

They all watched as Jimmy's soul writhed and struggled its way through the air being forced towards the ring. 'No!' he screamed. 'I will come back! I will kill you all! The witches first!' his voice was deep and grating forcing many of the women to cover their ears as they filled with pain at the sound.

Light flared up in the green circles around the ring as he yanked back trying to stay away. Buffy found herself pulled to the ring and she took in a breath as an aboriginal looking woman with war paint and a stake in her hand pulled ethereally from Buffy and slammed into Jimmy's spirit forcing it into the circle and it was sucked down into the ring. The eye sockets on the skull of the ring glowed brightly as his scream of rage drifted away leaving the room filled with scared women and flickering candlelight. The first Slayer returned to Buffy almost bringing her to her knees.

Sally reached out and hugged Willow into her and Gillian. "Thank you," she whispered to her niece.

"I call that all good," Xander said to Buffy, the Slayer was the only one not blown back by that but she still looked dazed. "We didn't have to fight any demons off." All the women looked his way. Many of the eyes were wide open with a little fear in them. "I'm just sayin'," he finished.

Epilogue

Sunnydale California, the start of the school year…

Buffy sat in the passenger seat of her mom's SUV as they headed for their last walk around the campus before they moved in and started college the next Monday. The summer had turned out to be excellent after disposing of Jimmy Angelov. The last thing they had done was go out to the shore line and Gillian giving Buffy the honors hurled Jimmy's ring out into the ocean.

Gillian had taken the girls to New York for shopping one weekend as Xander stayed with the Owens and found a new crush on him, namely Kylie. Buffy had flown home two weeks later on her own as Xander continued his road trip but with a surprise before he left. The Aunts had offered Xander the money to go to college with Buffy and Willow so long as he watched out for their niece and did good in school. He accepted and with a few phone calls became a student at the University much to the girls delight.

Willow had come home from Maria's Island three days ago and was filling them in on what had happened.

"That is so romantic," Buffy said as Willow told them about Officer Hallett, or Uncle Andy to Willow now, returned to the Island after reporting Jimmy's death as an accident and asked Sally to marry him and she accepted. They got married a week before Willow came back to Sunnydale.

Willow nodded. "It was all like, he was kissing her in the gardens, the Aunts got him smashing drunk and made him swear on his grave to take care of Sally and my cousins."

"And your training?" Buffy asked. "How's that going?"

Willow grinned as she held up her hand and blew on it, releasing a wisp of light to Buffy and it disappeared a moment later. "I've learned more over the summer than you can imagine."

Xander chuckled. "They called Giles up and chewed him a new one for not even trying to train you."

Willow paled. "Seriously? They didn't tell me they did that."

Buffy shrugged. "He got over it."

Willow looked out the window as she saw someone outside an older house in Sunnydale taking down a 'for sale' sign. "Wait!" she said. "Stop the car!"

Joyce looked her way then pulled over and Willow climbed out of the car heading down the street by a few houses. The others joined her and they saw Gillian with a box from a rental company on the steps. She turned their way with a smile, as if she knew they were coming.

"Mom?" Willow asked as she came up the front steps.

Gillian set the box down and opened her arms and Willow went into them gladly. "I missed you," she said kissing Willow's forehead. They had grown very close over the summer, almost too where Sally was feeling a little put out.

Willow pulled back a little as the others caught up with them. Gillian smiled to Buffy and Xander then looked to Joyce. "Gillian Owens," she said. "Mother of Willow… Owens."

Willow grinned as she clapped her hands. "They did it?" she asked.

Gillian nodded. "Never doubt the power of the Aunts, they know people who know scarier people, you are officially an Owens girl now," she replied as she motioned them all to come inside.

"This is Joyce, my mom," Buffy said as they looked around the house.

Gillian shook Joyce's hand. "You must be proud of Buffy. The Aunts love her and Xander."

Joyce nodded. "You take it all in stride or you go crazy."

"Not that I'm not happy that you're here, mom," Willow said. "But why are you here? I thought you were staying with the Aunts to learn."

"I'll keep on learning. But if my child can do something good with her life then I will too. First is to be your mother," Gillian said with smile and Willow smiled back knowing that her mother loved men and partying and drinking and sometimes having Gillian as a mother could be frustrating since things like rules, curfews and responsibility didn't really appeal much to Gillian. She had even gotten around Sally and Willow knew what it was like to be pretty drunk. The Aunts had been drunk with them too so there wasn't much Sally could say other than to put Willow to bed and yell at the others. "But I'm here to help," Gillian told her waving her hand to the house. "Slayer Central, Witch Coven, Owens House, to fight the good fight."

Tears came to just about everyone's eyes. Willow hugged her mom tightly. "That's so… you're so…" she couldn't talk. She wasn't the only witch in Sunnydale trying to help the Slayer.

"Awesome is a good word," Xander replied. "Can you be my mom too?" he asked.

Gillian smirked at him. "With your hot and sexy dreams about me, I think you'd be in trouble handsome."

Xander blushed bright red and the girls laughed. "I think Kylie has dibs on him," Willow told her mother.

Gillian rolled her eyes. "She's the redhead in the Owens line, she'll move on." She looked to them all. "So where were you going?"

"To check out the college and get our schedules," Willow told her. "Want to come?"

Gillian smiled. "And miss out on seeing young male frat boys?" she nodded. "I'll start hooking you up, sweetie."

Joyce blinked at this as Gillian led Willow and Xander out telling them about a new spell she was working on as Buffy put her arm in Joyce's. "Are you sure she's Willow mother?" Joyce asked as they followed behind shutting the door. "They're so-," she winced.

"Not alike," Buffy said, "at all?"

Joyce nodded and Buffy chuckled. "You need to meet her Aunt Sally then. She and Willow are a lot a like."

"Pizza and beer if you help me move in," Gillian was saying to the two up front.

Joyce's eyes got wider as Gillian pinched Xander's ass and Buffy began to laugh. Gillian winked her way as Xander went to Willow's other side, the younger redhead oblivious to what was going on just soaking in her mother's attention. "Wow," Joyce said under her breath and Buffy nodded as Xander rubbed his butt.

Halloween, that same year, the Owens House, California…

If there was one thing anyone could say about Gillian Owens was that she knew how to throw a party. Willow was dressed up in a black and green medieval dress with the long sleeves and corset, with her hair in an elaborate style befitting a witch by the name of Morgan Le Fay. Xander was the Punisher from the comic books, Buffy was Cinderella, Joyce was an angel, and Gillian was in her element as Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.

It had taken only two months for everyone in Sunnydale to meet her and love or hate her. It had taken even less time for the underbelly of Sunnydale to realize there were two trained witches and the new forming of a real coven to help the Slayer guard the Hellmouth and the population of demons was growing smaller. It also helped that Gillian could out drink most demons and half of them were in lust with her, that included Willy the snitch and he pretty much told her everything that went on in the city.

Giles came to the party, but he told them he would dress up. However, when he came Gillian was waiting for him with a jester hat and jacket which he grudgingly put on but Gillian also put a drink in his hand showing him where the food was.

The Aunts had come, dressed as classical witches of course and they had loved Giles, old fashioned gentleman to a core they doted on him making the teenagers giggle. Xander of course insisted his was a manly chuckle with no giggling involved. Sally and the girls had stayed home to oversee the now famous Owens house where everyone came to see the witches. No longer taunted, but cheered and the girls were learning their heritage along with their mother, making the Aunts very happy.

Willow smiled when she saw her date arrive looking timidly around the decked out foyer. She waved a little and the blond girl dressed up as Glinda the good witch came her way. Willow had met Tara at a college wiccan meeting only to find out Tara was the only other real witch there. It didn't take long for Tara to initiate the first kiss and Willow asked her out. She was finally going to introduce her to her mother, friends and the Aunts though she had a feeling they already knew given to how the Aunts talked to her as if she had a partner and Gillian stopped setting her up with dates.

"Hey," she said to the taller girl.

"Hey," Tara replied as they looked to each other for a moment.

"And who's this?" Gillian asked from behind Willow. Her costume was amazing, even Tara backed up a little seeing Maleficent stride across the room towards them.

Willow took a hold of Tara's hand and turned to face her. "Mom, this is Tara Maclay," she told her pulling Tara in close. "Tara, this is my Mom, Gillian." Gillian raised an eyebrow at her and Willow blushed. "She's-, she's my girlfriend."

Gillian smiled looking Tara over now that Willow admitted that she had someone as the Aunts came up flanking the two teenagers. "I smell a witch, my darling sister," Fran said grinning slyly at Tara.

Jet's grin was friendlier. "A generational witch."

Tara blinked at this. "What's your name, little witch?" Fran asked.

"T-Tara… Maclay," she got out with a stutter.

The Aunts looked to her. "What's your mother's maiden name?" Jet asked.

Tara pushed a lock of hair over her ear looking to the floor shyly. "Townsend," she told them.

"A Townsend, lovely!" Jet said. "You make a lovely couple."

Buffy and Xander came up with Riley and Anya as their dates. "Couple?" Xander asked.

Willow nodded looking to her two best friends. "Tara is my girlfriend."

Buffy and Xander looked from her to Tara who was blushing. Anya who was dressed as a bunny nodded. "That's a wise thing to do. I could never give vengeance to women who were scorned by their female lovers."

"Ahn," Xander said looking her way.

"What?" Anya asked. "I've slept with a woman. It was a lot of fun." She looked him over. "We should have a threesome sometime."

"An! It's not like every woman sleeps with other women!" he said blushing at the others.

"Yeah right," Anya said. "What women here have slept with another woman?" she asked raising her hand.

Willow covered her mouth when her mother's hand went up. Then both of her Aunts went up as did quite a few others. "I bet it was Amelia Belden from the gathering when we were fourteen," Fran said to Jet about her.

Jet smirked her way. "Hattie McCamden," she shot back.

"Touché," Fran replied.

They looked to Tara and Willow who were watching in awe, neither hand was up. Gillian sighed. "If you're going slow I'm going to be very put out with you."

Tara looked to her girlfriend. "You did s-ay she was blunt."

Willow nodded. "That's my mom."

Gillian winked and hugged Willow to her. "I have my eye on someone," she confided in them.

"Just one?" Willow asked and the others laughed as Buffy looked surprised. Gillian had given Willow a lot of self confidence over the past five months by having to learn to verbally spar with her mother or be walked over and Gillian wouldn't have a daughter for a doormat.

"If it works out, just one," Gillian replied looking to where Giles had pulled off the jester hat and was drinking a beer watching the crowd. "Say hello to daddy," she said lustfully.

They all looked Buffy's way as she spoke up. "My mom, when I could read her mind called him a stevedore. What is one anyway?"

Gillian purred as she blended into the crowd headed the Englishman's way. "Oh dear," Jet said looking to Willow. "How do you feel about a baby sister with dark hair?" Willow paled as she saw her mother grab Giles by the tie and haul him into a deep kiss.

ooooooo

It was getting on to midnight as a group of nine made their way through the rubble that was the remains of Sunnydale High. Down below there uncovered before hand was the seal to the Hellmouth. The nine gathered around it silently and held hands.

"Five witches to cast," one witch said.

"Four heroes to anchor," another witch continued.

"With our blood we bind and seal," the third witch said.

"N-never to open again," the fourth witch got out.

"Raised over it, died above it, Slayer and Witch consecrate this ground with the bringer of life," Willow, the last witch, said looking at Buffy across from her. They cut their palms open lightly and let a few drops of blood mark the seal. "Closed forever, so say we," Willow finished.

"So say we all," the others said putting a drop of blood from their finger to fall on the seal. The image of it shifted and warped then sunk into the ground. The nine looked to each other. Willow, Buffy, Xander, Gillian, Jet, Fran, Tara, Giles, and Joyce, all still in costume, but it was main the reason the Aunts had come, to seal the Hellmouth forever.

ooooooo

It was later that evening after the party was over and just about everyone who was anyone, even a few demons as a truce, came to Gillian's party. Willow, Buffy, and Xander all had rooms at the Owens house but Willow walked Tara back to the college, less than a mile from home and away from spying eyes.

"I had a nice time," Tara told her. "Interesting, you said it'd be interesting."

Willow nodded liking the feel of Tara's hand in hers. "The Aunts had been working on that spell for a month."

"It was so simple," Tara replied not understanding why it would take so long to get it ready.

"It had power," Willow told her. "Five generational witches, a wizard, a vengeance demon and a Slayer, that's a lot of power."

Tara shook her head. "You have power I can't imagine having."

Willow looked around the campus. They had made it to Tara's dorm. She faced her girlfriend. "The Aunts say you have to believe in your power, I think you have a lot of power that you just need to believe in." Tara blushed shaking her head to look down at their entangled fingers. Willow pushed back a stray lock from Tara's cheek. "Then you have mine," Willow told her softly. Tara looked back up at her and the intense magic building up was glowing about them.

'Kiss her!' came a magical bullhorn voice of her mother through the air across the campus.

And Willow did. To her, the kiss was… practically magic.

The End

Translation:
Mother, sister, daughter are we,
Bound by blood, bound by family,
We call on Maria, mother to our line
Cast out the one with no Owens blood.

Do not let him return, keep him away.
Bind him in, seal his soul to stay,
As one with his ring, let no one break him free,
Seal him there for all eternity.

Blessed are the Owens line,
Blessed are we for all time,
Mote it be!