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3. "Lovestruck" After running around with her daughter Willow had felt like an early night and Tara had been happy to oblige. Saturday morning found her yawning and pulling on a robe while Tara lazed in bed. When she reached the kitchen Willow was surprised to find it empty, LJ usually beat them downstairs at the weekend, still even the Slayer can sleep in after all that chasing around, maybe a good nights sleep will improve her mood.
        Willow knocked gently on LJ's door before opening it, "I'm making breakfast..." she didn't get any further as she realized the room was empty, indeed there was no obvious sign of it being occupied since LJ went for her walk the night before. Willow wasn't too concerned by that, the way LJ had been behaving recently it was possible she had just woken early, tidied up, and left without saying anything.
        The one thing Willow was fairly sure of was that her daughter wouldn't have gone out without having a shower, so it was only when Willow checked the bathroom and saw the same stack of towels from the night before completely undisturbed that she came to the logical conclusion; her daughter gone out the previous night and not come back. Another parent would have worried about what might have happened to their daughter, Willow was worried about what her daughter might have done to someone else.
        All of Willow's padding around the hallway had roused Tara from her doze and as she came up behind Willow she instantly guessed what had happened, "She stayed out all night."
        Willow nodded with a grim expression on her face, "I don't care how impossible it is, that young lady is grounded," she reached out telepathically to give LJ a piece of her mind, and almost jumped into Tara's arms.
        "Honey what's the matter? Is she hurt?" Tara demanded frantically.
        Willow shook her head to clear it, "Hurt? No she's not hurt, not yet anyway." About thirty seconds having elapsed Willow decided it was safe to try again, Lydia Joyce Maclay you have ten minutes to get yourself home, and you better bring her with you!
        This time she shared the telepathic communication with Tara who thought it over for a few seconds and pieced together what Willow had psychically walked in on.
        When she reacted out loud Willow looked wounded, "Stop laughing, it isn't funny!"
        LJ looked damp but not very contrite. Sabrina was sat next to her also looking damp and varying between frowning and smiling depending on whether she was looking towards Willow or LJ.
        Tara was also having a hard time deciding on her attitude. On the one hand her instinct was to back up Willow's stern parental disapproval of LJ's irresponsible behaviour. On the other hand she could see the change in LJ; her daughter's aura had been darkened with guilt and anxiety these past few weeks. Now it was bright and warm once more; LJ was happy and it was very hard to argue with that.
        Willow had no problem knowing how she felt, frustrated and annoyed. She was trying her level best to accept Sabrina Harrington as part of LJ's life but every time she took a step forward LJ and Sabrina seemed to take ten, "Would you care to explain what happened last night? When you left here last night you said you were going for a walk."
        "I was telling the truth, I just wound going a lot further than I intended," LJ realized how that sounded about five seconds too late and hurried on to explain about the light and the meeting at the diner, "And then I suggested going to hotel so we could be alone." LJ was emphatic about that 'I', she wasn't going to have her parents thinking Sabrina had somehow taken advantage of her.
        Willow had been thinking along those lines but hustled the conversation along, "And then?"
        "We fell asleep and when we woke up we decided to grab a shower before heading home," LJ caught the look on Willow's face and suddenly didn't feel like dancing around the issue, "Alright we were in the shower making love when you tried to call me, and yes that's why we slept in so late as well. I know you think I should have called you last night but if I did you would have insisted I come home." LJ looked from Willow to Tara and took Sabrina's hand, "If you two had been kept apart the way we have don't tell me you would have done differently because I won't believe you!" Realizing she had begun to shout LJ stopped. She felt a little dizzied by her outburst and was convinced she had completely blown her chances of persuading her mothers to let Sabrina stay.
        As it happened Willow wasn't upset by the outburst. As LJ made her defiant stand Willow had found herself hearing another voice, another young woman telling her parents that she was in love and if they didn't like the person she wanted to be with then they could go to hell, and that worked out pretty well, she thought as she looked fondly at Tara.
        As she turned her attention back to LJ Willow saw her daughter brace herself for the onslaught and couldn't resist leaving her in suspense for a few seconds longer, and enjoying the way LJ's jaw hit the floor when she did speak, "I suppose I would have done the same, in fact I sort of did once upon a time."
        That left LJ speechless so Sabrina tried to fill in, "It's good of you to say that, I never meant to cause trouble, I just wanted to be with Lydia."
        Tara nodded, "We do understand, its just things are moving very fast. LJ did you do any talking last night? I mean did you tell her any of our little family secrets?"
        LJ had recovered enough from Willow's change of heart enough so that she understood what Tara was getting at, "Uh no I didn't."
        "Well then this might be good time for you two to take a walk and share some of them, tell her about the first time we saw you." Tara suggested.
        That left Sabrina looking confused and LJ decided to go along with the notion, "Let's go sweetheart, I'll explain some stuff, and then you'll be really confused."
        As LJ led Sabrina towards the door Willow called after them, "Try to remember the way home this time dear."
        As soon as the front door closed behind them Tara slid down beside Willow and gave her a long lingering kiss, "I'm proud of you honey, that meant a lot to LJ even if she won't admit it."
        Willow was embarrassed, "I just realized I was in danger of turning into my father, blaming you for somehow seducing his nice straight daughter."
        Tara giggled, "I don't think you're in any danger of that, you have too much hair for one thing."
        "Well there is that." Willow conceded.
        "And he did come round eventually, especially after we gave him a grand child."
        Willow raised an eyebrow at that reminder, "Well let's hope LJ doesn't try that approach with us."
        "I think we're more likely to give her a sister before she makes us grandparents." Tara ran her fingers through Willow's hair as she spoke.
        "You know between Sabrina and the Athenai I haven't even thought about checking Clelland's research." Willow admitted.
        "Do you want to?" Tara asked softly.
        Willow didn't need to think about the answer, "Yeah, I do, maybe not today but sometime soon we need to make time for ourselves."
        "Absolutely." Tara agreed and kissed her again.
        When they finally broke away Willow reluctantly returned to the situation at hand, "Since LJ is telling Sabrina all about us I think it's only fair we learn everything about her, including her involvement with the Athenai."
        Nigel looked at Phoebe with a weary expression, "Is it really worth it? I mean several other members have departed recently, why pursue Sabrina above them?" he was being deliberately obtuse of course, Nigel was quite certain those other members were less departed than deceased. He had always known that Phoebe was capable of ruthlessness but her recent actions had begun to make him seriously question how far she would go.
        Phoebe wasn't of course going to admit that the actions of the others was no longer an issue, "None of the others are spilling their secrets to the Slayer, and yes Nigel you told me so and I didn't give you credit."
        Nigel wasn't going to be put off by cheap flattery, "That simply makes my point, she has undoubtedly already spilled all the secrets she knows while sneaking around behind our backs."
        "I don't think so, there are things she probably doesn't even realize she knows, things that the Slayer and her parents will extract from her given time." Phoebe insisted.
        Nigel stood his ground; he wasn't going to simply concede to Phoebe without at least trying to head off this act of stupidity, "I don't think the Slayer is planning on administering the third degree, or allowing anyone else to do so for that matter."
        Phoebe fixed him with a steely gaze, "We cannot simply let Sabrina go, find her and make that clear to her."
        Nigel sighed and left the office. Phoebe leaned back in her chair, she knew her authority was draining away, probably irreparably but she had a duty to her eventual successor to ensure there was some sort of organization to hand. Doing that meant that some secrets had to be kept, at any cost.
4. "Relationships"
"So you met your parents back in the year two thousand?" Sabrina was having a hard time trying to get her head around the concept that time travel was possible, never mind the notion that she was dating someone who had actually done it.
        "Well from my perspective it hasn't happened yet but yeah basically that's what happened." LJ assured her, and couldn't resist adding, "They met you about a year later."
        Sabrina came to a halt in the street, "What?"
        "They ran into you back then, in a place, in a place that's too complicated to explain right now." LJ was enjoying the expression of confusion of on Sabrina's face, it was sort of cute.
        "Complicated, right, wouldn't want to get into anything complicated." Sabrina was wondering what she had gotten herself into, then looked at LJ and decided whatever it was she liked it.
        LJ slid an arm around her waist, "I know how weird this is, I didn't even find about it until after I became a Slayer, and it freaked me out."
        That made Sabrina feel better, as did that arm which was pulling her close. What didn't make her feel better was the sight of the man walking towards them, "Nigel."
        LJ also recognized the Athenai and immediately stepped in front of Sabrina, "Just stay right where you are."
        Nigel stopped obediently, "I haven't come here to pick a fight Miss Maclay," he stopped and thought that over for a second, "Actually that may not be wholly true, I've been sent to tell Sabrina that we want her to come back."
        That comment set Sabrina off, "So 'we' want me to come back? Including you Nigel? Go on tell me you want me to come back."
        The provocation broke through Nigel's cool exterior, especially as he had been forced to swallow so much recently, "No I don't want you to come back, I've known for months you weren't really one of us, before you ever met Lydia Joyce Maclay."
        Sabrina wasn't intimidated by his outburst, “Then why don't you just tell Phoebe that? Tell her that I'm not worth getting back?"
        "Even if she was willing to go with you I'd tie her up and carry her back to the house." LJ added firmly.
        Sabrina suddenly looked less hostile and more intrigued, "Really? What exactly did you have in mind?"
        LJ shook her head, "It was meant to be a threat sweetheart," she reminded Sabrina.
        The interplay between the two did more to persuade Nigel to give up and go than all Sabrina's defiance, "Alright stay if you wish but Phoebe will not accept it and there are others who will see your actions as a betrayal, and they will take steps."
        LJ's gaze was hard as it met Nigel's, "If they do I'll be ready to take some action myself, tell your buddies that."
        Nigel didn't have a reply to that, he just nodded and walked away, resisting the urge to look back and make sure there wasn't a fireball following him.
        Willow and Tara were both sat on the sofa when LJ and Sabrina walked in and LJ braced herself for more trouble. Willow caught the expression, "Did something happen out there?"
        "We ran into Nigel," Sabrina explained, "It seems the Athenai can't bear to live with out me."
        "I made it clear that they better learn to." LJ added casually.
        Willow wasn't taken in, "I don't imagine they're just going to take that advice, which makes our decision all the more relevant."
        Now LJ was on edge again, "What decision?"
        Willow gestured for Tara to explain; “We’ve decided to let Sabrina have the guest room, if she wants it."
        LJ stared at her parents and her mouth worked soundlessly.
        Sabrina managed to answer but she sounded bewildered, maybe even a little scared, "Are you sure? I mean it's generous of you."
        Willow waved away the protest, "Its not generous, we figured if your staying here then we don't have to wonder where our daughter is sneaking off to at night. Also now you've cut yourself off from the Athenai how are you going to support yourself? Can you afford to live in hotels or rent an apartment?"
        Tara had been nodding along as Willow spoke, "And with what you just told us, don't you think you'll be safer with three more witches watching your back; especially LJ?"
        That definitely swayed Sabrina, "Probably a good idea, I don't exactly have a huge bank account anyway."
        LJ reached out telepathically to Sabrina, this smells like a trap, they’re going to mother you to death.
        Sabrina didn't seem bothered by that, there are worse things.
        Seeing that she wasn't going to get any support LJ gave in, "Ok, I guess it makes a sort of sense."
        Tara smiled and before LJ could say anything else she gestured to Sabrina, "Good I'll show you the guest room Sabrina."
        LJ waited until Sabrina was out of earshot before she started quizzing Willow, "What exactly do you get out of this mom? Do you think that if she's living here I'll be too embarrassed to fool around with her? Because if that's the plan you're the one who’s going to be embarrassed."
        Willow stayed calm, "Well you should remember that could be a two way street," she smiled as LJ blushed, "but seriously if Sabrina was staying somewhere else how long would it be before you were packing a bag to be with her? And since we wouldn't let you wind up on the streets that would leave us picking up the bills."
        That was logical but LJ pushed the notion, "We could make it work, get jobs or something."
        Willow shook her head, "Leaving aside the fact that I would kill you if you dropped out of school what exactly would Sabrina do? Maybe she wants to go to college, have you asked her?"
        Once more her mother had left LJ speechless. She knew how she felt about Sabrina, and vice versa, as far as mundane facts and information went she was still a little light.
        Willow saw LJ was getting the idea, "If you two are both here then you can get to know one another, and if you're right then it will just be a start for you. If you're wrong, well Tara and me will be here for you."
        "And what exactly are you expecting?" LJ asked quietly.
        Willow shook her head, "I'm afraid Sabrina Harrington will be around to annoy me for a while yet."
        When LJ finally realized what Willow had said she pulled her mother out of the chair and hugged her.
        There was no warm welcome waiting for Nigel as he walked down the corridors of the Athenai headquarters. He could recall a time when he had enjoyed just walking through this place; there had been a sense of purpose and belonging. That was long gone however. Perhaps if he had been willing to fight for the leadership when the post fell open he could have prevented that loss, but that was then and this is now. He could sense the rot was too far gone and he had compromised too many times to take any sort of lead. As he thought back to his encounter with Sabrina and the Maclay girl, he couldn't erase the suspicion that Harrington might have made the smart move, finding somewhere new she could belong.
        That wasn't a notion he was planning to share with Phoebe. The leader of the Athenai was sat behind her desk with a dark brooding look on her face, "You weren't terribly persuasive then."
        Nigel suddenly felt very tired and drained, "Of course not, she's been smitten by the Slayer for months and now their clearly on more intimate terms. She has the power of the Slayer and her parents to put between her and us. What on earth do you imagine I could do to make her come back with me?"
        Phoebe was taken aback by Nigel's bluntness but it didn't dent her determination, "Perhaps nothing but that doesn't change the fact that we need her back."
        That was too much for Nigel and he erupted, "What on earth for!?"
        Phoebe toyed with the edge of her desk, it would be very easy to be rid of the man and she was sure Nigel was undercutting her authority with the others, still he has uses, "Very well I'll explain, it is not to go beyond this room you understand."
        "As you say." Surprise at Phoebe's concession made him compliant.
        Phoebe composed herself, "Since before I took this office we've tried to scry the future, learn something of what's to come. It's rarely very successful since the future is a fluid thing, one fact though has remained unshakeable; there is a global catastrophe looming," she paused to appraise Nigel's expression, content she went on, "the forces involved are of such a magnitude and the sequence of events so confused that the best seers the Athenai have couldn't untangle it. One of the few things that was clearly discernable was that Sabrina would be in the thick of it."
        "Harrington?" It was sufficiently bizarre to Nigel that he felt the need to check.
        Phoebe nodded, "Yes that Sabrina. She's our only lead, the one chance we have to find a way to unravel this tangled futurescape. We have pursued other avenues of course, hence our aggressive strategy recently," she decided that was quite enough to content Nigel, enough that he wouldn't wonder if there was more at least.
        Nigel mulled it over. It did make some sense of otherwise questionable decisions but one point did occur to him, " What make you sure that it isn't leaving us for the Slayer that puts her at the centre of this cataclysm?"
        Whatever smugness Nigel might have felt at leaving Phoebe speechless was more than offset by the concern at the realization that the possibility really had never occurred to her.
5. "Mothers & Daughters"
The guest bedroom seemed perfectly nice to Sabrina and not at all trap like, just not very exciting in itself. The bathroom was another matter. It was huge and had this big sunken tub set in the middle of it. Sabrina was going to joke about it being big enough for two but when she turned to Tara a little voice in the back of her mind spoke up, why exactly do you think they have it? She fell back on bland pleasantries, "You have a really nice home."
        Tara smiled, "Thank you dear," and now the grilling begins. She felt a little bad about interrogating the girl but Willow did have a point about how little they really knew about Sabrina Harrington and this wasn't exactly the third degree. "I was just wondering, is there anyone you need to let know where you are?" Sabrina didn't quite seem to understand the question, "I mean friends, family."
        At that last word Tara could swear Sabrina actually flinched, "I don't really have any family to speak of." Tara didn't respond, just watched Sabrina sympathetically.
        Sabrina walked into the bathroom and leant against the sink, "My parents died when I was six, a car accident. They left me with an aunt for the day, just so they could get some time alone I guess. I yelled and screamed about it told them I hoped I never saw them again, and I didn't."
        Tara went over to her and placed a comforting hand on Sabrina's shoulder, "I'm so sorry."
        Sabrina did her best to pass it off lightly, "It was a long time ago. Anyway it turned out no one else in my family was either willing or able to take care of me. Went from foster home to foster home. Then when I was thirteen I moved in with a couple who were hooked up with the Athenai and the rest was history."
        "Thirteen," Tara was taken aback, "How old are you now?"
        Sabrina was glad for a less emotive question, "I turned eighteen two months ago."
        "Really? What date?" LJ's voice startled both Sabrina and Tara.
        Sabrina turned to her girlfriend, "The seventeenth."
        That prompted a look of astonishment from LJ, "You're kidding me, that's my birthday too!"
        As the pair started to chatter excitedly Tara decided this would be an excellent time to slip back downstairs, before LJ realized what she had been up to.
        Willow was sipping a cup of coffee and feeling distinctly guilty. She had been sincere in her explanation to LJ and her gut was telling her that they wouldn't be seeing the back of Sabrina Harrington any time soon. Still she had felt compelled to snoop and pry. She sighed, you're getting cranky in your old age, Willow decided just to be grateful that Tara hadn't scolded her about her prying and agreed to play along; when she saw the expression on Tara's face she wondered if it had been such a good idea after all, "What happened baby?"
        "I managed to find out a few things about Sabrina." Tara quickly reiterated her conversation with the girl.
        When she had finished Willow felt like a total low life, "And she's been involved with the Athenai since then?"
        "Not so surprising now, a child with no close family being offered a world of magic, in her place I don't think I would have said no," Tara concluded.
        Willow nodded thoughtfully. Thanks to her mother and grandmother Tara had been exposed to witchcraft from the time she was a little child, for Willow on the other hand it had been a sudden revelation; doubly so when she discovered magic was something she had. She could imagine how a girl who was isolated and alone could be drawn to the Athenai.
        The sense that she might have something in common with Sabrina was sufficiently disturbing for Willow to seek any distraction; which was when she noticed Tara fidgeting, "There's something else isn't there?"
        Tara looked glum, she had worked so hard to get Willow to accept Sabrina, and now she might have to wreck it all, "When I was speaking with Sabrina I picked something in her aura, something, off."
        That comment had Willow instantly on edge, "What exactly?"
        "I'm not sure, there was just something else there when she was talking about her past."
        "Was she lying?" Willow demanded.
        "I don't know," Tara had to admit, "It was different, disconnected from what she was saying, I don't really know what it was."
        That didn't make Willow any less edgy, "Well we better find out."
        That tone of grim resolution alarmed Tara, "Are you going to confront her?"
        Willow thought about that but realized it would mean confronting LJ as well, "No but I am going to get to the bottom of it, and if she has the same birthday as LJ then I know where to start."
        "Where?" Tara asked reluctantly.
        Willow's predatory grin wasn't reassuring, "Right back at the beginning."
        Watching Willow working several tablets at a time was usually intriguing to Tara, like watching a juggler or a plate spinner; right now it was more like a knife throwing act, which might become a real one if LJ walks in on us.
        "Ah hah!" Willow stabbed a finger at the screen of a tablet, "I knew there couldn't be many Sabrina Harrington’s in the USA; add in the birthday and its just a matter of having the right search tools."
        "And a total disregard for people's privacy." Tara murmured.
        Willow was too distracted to hear the comment, "Now if I cross reference the parents address with police records..." she stopped and frowned, "there is report of a traffic accident, involving them, and there's a listing for next of kin, a sister of the wife."
        "Which confirms everything Sabrina told me." Tara stated firmly, "Maybe what I picked up was completely innocent."
        Willow had to admit what she was reading made it seem unlikely, still, "These are just computer records, it would be way better to talk to a real person."
        Again Tara couldn't argue the logic, she just wasn’t sure about the morality; however if Sabrina was deceiving LJ that was something the had to know, "The aunt."
        "Seems like the best bet to me." Willow agreed.
        "I can take a read on her." Tara concurred.
        Now Willow shook her head, "No, one of us should be here to run interference, and if it’s me LJ will figure out something's up in about five seconds."
        Tara couldn't argue with that, "Alright but when you meet her be nice honey."
        "I'll do my best," assuming she isn't connected to the Athenai.
        As Willow walked up to the door of the house that was home to Sabrina's aunt she had to concede it hardly looked like an Athenai lair. If anything it resembled her own home, albeit on a smaller scale. Again the sense of familiarity ate away at Willow's resolve but her need to know kept Willow moving forward and she pressed firmly on the door chime.
        When the screen by the door came to life Willow was confronted by a fair-haired woman a few years younger than herself, "Allison Green?"
        "Yes," the woman admitted cautiously, "and you would be?"
        "Willow Rosenberg, I'm not selling anything or trying to convert you to anything, I just need to speak to you about your niece."
        That left Allison looking bewildered, "My niece?"
        "Sabrina Harrington." Willow offered nervously.
        Her unease proved well founded as Allison's face turned stony, "My niece Sabrina? My niece died twelve years ago." Before Willow could process that bombshell the screen went blank.
        Willow stood there for a moment thinking things over and decided there was no alternative, she pressed the chime and kept her finger there.
        The door flew open, "Go away or I'm calling the police!" Allison shouted and made to slam the door; only to find it inexplicably jammed open.
        Willow adopted a serious expression and a conciliatory tone, "Look I have a girl staying in my house calling herself Sabrina Harrington and basically claiming to be your niece. You'll understand if I find what you just told me more than a little disturbing."
        That made Allison hesitate a little, "So what do you want from me?"
        "Really just some details, something to help me confront this girl, she's a, friend, of my daughters and it's going to be pretty tough to convince her that her friends a fraud without some sort of facts." It wasn't exactly what Willow had in mind but there was no point in confusing the woman with all the gory details.       
        Allison stared at Willow long and hard, "Ok, you can have five minutes but the first sign of anything suspicious and you're out that door."
        The feelings mutual, Willow didn't reply, "Thank you," she answered instead and released her telekinetic grip on the door, leaving a baffled Allison to close the door behind her.
Willow: ...I have to tell you....
Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the person you l-love
Willow: I am
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