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Chapter 50

"But I don't get it. Why can't I just be a witch? I could even be like Glinda the Good Witch; instant positive power, nothing dark. Gabrielle isn't even super strong, how is that gonna help anything? All she gets to do is be Xena’s sidekick and wear that almost-a-skirt-and-top," she grumbled unhappily.

“She’s an Amazon Warrior Princess who welds a mean staff, Will. By becoming her, you’d get all sorts of neat skills the will enable you to protect yourself and others without the years of training that those sorts of skills would take to develop. You may not always have a handy spell ready or the correct ingredients, so this way you get another option. You don’t need help with the magic, you’re already gifted with that power, and it will grow the more you learn. The best witches take the time to study their craft and I know how you like to be the best. This way; you can be protected and still spend your time concentrating on the magic thing.” Joan carefully chose an argument that would appeal to the petulant teen.

“At least Gabrielle is better than what I have to be,” Dawn couldn’t help adding. Who knew being a Scooby would require her to take one for the team? She still couldn’t believe they expected her to dress up as a doctor! She’d offer to swap with Willow if she thought for a second her sister would allow it. Being the baby sister blew chunks!

After finally convincing the redhead it was for the best, Willow, Xander, and Dawn purchased their costumes at Ethan’s and Buffy was sent to Party-hire for hers. Since Snyder had insisted that she ‘volunteer’ to chaperone a group of younger children as they Trick or Treated, the fact that she would still be the slayer rather than a victim of the spell meant that she would easily be able to corral the youngsters for the few moments that the spell was in place, but Willow, Xander, and Dawn would be effected in much same way that Xander had in Joan’s time. It was hoped that as Xander had been able to draw knowledge from his pseudo army memory over the years, the three teens would now benefit even more. Xander himself had decided to go for an upgrade. This time he was going as a special Ops commando. He wanted the added bonus of extensive hand to hand combat to be a part of his arsenal.

Joan, Willow, Jenny, and William kept an eye on the front entrance of the shop. Giles, Xander, and Spike waited in the dark alley at the rear. Buffy and Dawn headed to the school.

The plan was simple, as soon as the spell went into effect, William and Joan would enter the store and the pure vampire would continue on to the back entrance. Jenny would deal with Willow, then they too would enter, ensuring that Ethan didn’t leave through the front. William would open the back entrance and Giles, Spike, and Xander would enter and guard that door. Xander would be instructed to break the statue of Janus and Giles would be the one to grab the chaos worshiper. Then Joan planned on having a little conversation with the irritating pain in her butt.

~*~*~

Joan was not overly surprised when the plan went down without a hitch Ethan was easily subdued and his shock at their apparent knowledge of the spell and how to break it stunned him into silence. The addition of a furious Ripper into the mix ensured the embarrassed sorcerer’s co-operation.

Once Willow and Xander were deemed free of the spell, Joan sent them and Spike to Buffy to assist her with the clean-up of the spell's aftermath. She then shocked Giles with her knowledge of Eyghon before explaining to both the watcher and his old friend the danger they were now in.

She, William, and Jenny had gone over the situation with a fine tooth comb and had decided to go for a pre-emptive strike. Summoning Eyghon and binding the demon within a circle, William entered the circle and allowed the beast entry, easily defeating it. Jenny then bound the sorcerer’s powers while adding a curse.

“That curse won’t affect you unless you try to get the binding removed,” the gypsy informed the defeated man. Stepping into his personal space, she added a warning. “But if it does kick in, know that every spell you attempt will rebound and only you will be affected. My people excel at curses, Mr Rayne. You really don’t want to test that.”

~*~*~

After dealing with the frightened children, Buffy, Willow, Dawn, Xander, and Spike made their way to the Bronze. The events of the night had changed the original events as they had known it would, but Joan had informed Buffy of one event that they needed to make sure did happen. So while everyone enjoyed a drink, Buffy slipped off to find Oz. It was time for Willow to meet him.

~*~*~

Buffy’s joy at her friend’s blossoming relationship with the monosyllabic guitarist was overshadowed by her discovery that her old friend, Ford, was planning on setting her up. Her pain at his betrayal was lessened by the knowledge that Spike was so incensed over the whole thing that they’d physically had to restrain him from, as he put it, teaching the boy a whole new level of pain. Jealous protective boyfriend wigging had a certain butterfly inducing thing going for it.

Spike had been somewhat placated when he’d been allowed to rip to shreds the vampire that Ford had eventually got to help him.

After the situation had been dealt with, Joan and William made a quick trip to Los Angeles. The sight of Chantarelle, or Lily, as she would later call herself, had reminded the older slayer of the Family Home Shelter, so she decided to go and close it down sooner rather than later.

The addition of William by her side and her own years of experience made the trip a relatively short one.

~*~*~

As the Order of Taraka had not been hired, Careers Day went off without a hitch and Giles’ phone call to Jamaica ensured that Kendra would stay were she was.

Spike, at Joan’s prompting, had hired the skating rink to surprise his girl. He had also managed to spend time there prior to the date in order to refresh his own rusty skills. Buffy danced with a master vampire around the rink for hours.

After he had kissed her goodnight at her front door, Buffy floated up the stairs in a joyous haze. She’d never been happier.

~*~*~

Spike watched in amusement at the sexual tension between his friend and the brunette cheerleader escalated. All the denial in the world wasn’t going to stop that little situation from exploding…and soon. He just hoped he had ring side seats for it.

~*~*~

Joyce informed Joan when Ted approached her at the Gallery, and the four superheroes dealt with the robot quickly.

~*~*~

While William and Joan took care of the Gorches, Buffy and Spike dealt with the Bezoar demon.

~*~*~
With each change to the timeline, Joan changed. Horrifying memories of being swallowed alive by the beast disappeared in an instant. Sadness over her lacklustre dating history with Angel faded into the ether as the memories were replaced with the fun that Spike exposed Buffy too. Memories of sneaking out and her mother’s disappointment in her were changed to visions of her mother’s approval as she left the house with her doting master vampire boyfriend. There were productive patrols interspersed with shy kisses and hand holding, movies, dancing together at the Bronze, moonlight strolls and picnics, and talking. Anything and everything was covered as the pair took the time to really get to know each other. And through it all, Joan fell more deeply in love than she’d ever dreamed possible.

An idea struck the older slayer and she began to plan.

Suggesting that she and Buffy take the evening’s patrol alone, Joan took the opportunity to talk with the younger girl.

“I need to tell you about my seventeenth birthday.”





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