Bad Eggs

Buffy and her mom walked through the mall as it was starting to close. The blonde was trying so hard to act normal, but having Libby MIA was driving her crazy. She understood the message Angel gave her about Libby needing time on her own, but the slayer was missing her protector. Even worse, Buffy had realized that she had missed Libby's sweet sixteen due to her finding out the truth. Making her feel like a well rounded awful person.

"Come on, Mom. Please?" Buffy begged in desperate need of a pick-me-up.

"I'm sorry, honey."

"Don't you understand how important this is?" Buffy whined. Not only was it a sexy outfit, but she wanted a distraction from the fact that Libby wasn't around to shop with her to tell her what she wanted for her birthday.

"It's an outfit. And outfit that you may never buy." Joyce answered unmoved.

"But…I looked good in it."

"You looked like a streetwalker." Joyce groaned in disgust.

"But a thin streetwalker." Buffy's eyes grew wide with regret. "That's probably not gonna be the winning argument is it?"

"You're just too young to wear that."

"Yeah, I'm gonna be too young till I'm too old to wear it."

"That's the idea." Joyce looked around and noticed that they were running out of time. "The stores are closing and I still need to order flyers for the opening." She started planning in her head while Buffy stood there trying not to think. "Okay. I'll go to the printers and then get our food. You go to the tailor and pick up my outfit from Everyday Woman." She handed her daughter the receipt.

"'Everyday Woman'?" Buffy asked in disapproval.

"Mmhmm. There's the receipt."

"Why didn't you just go to Muumuus R Us?"

"Do now. Make fun of your mother later." As Joyce organized the bags in her hands, she had a thought. "I feel just terrible about Libby's grandmother passing away, do tell her that my thoughts are with her."

Buffy sadly nodded and said, "I will, I promise."

"I know you miss her, sweetie."

Buffy tried and failed to smile as her mom rubbed her cheek. She went to the escalator and headed down to the homely store. She wasn't in the mood for picking up her mom's dress nor was she in the mood to be out in the world and living her life without Libby.

It was the strangest feeling and the slayer didn't understand it. It wasn't like when she missed her dad or when she was worried about where Angel was; it was something else entirely. Buffy felt like someone had cut off an invisible limb and she knew it by the burning pain resonating in the tattoo. It was like some force was telling her that they needed to be side by side and if the separation continued then the worse it would get. Unfortunately, no one could soothe the issue so she had to fake like she was fine. However, the longer Libby was gone the more the tattoo scorched her skin.

Buffy glanced around in an attempt to focus and saw a cheesy guy in a cowboy hat leaning close to a young woman. Not caring, she turned to the other side of the escalator and saw that in the mirror…the man didn't show up. Buffy looked over and up and saw the couple nearing the top of the rotating stairs. Sacred duty kicking in, Buffy turned around and climbed her way up the opposite moving escalator. She followed them a ways down the hall and didn't have trouble keeping up. She almost lost them, but the slayer heard them playing on one of the machines in the arcade. Buffy slowly crept in and kept a look out for her opening to ambush.

"Turn around, baby. I've got somethin' to show ya." The cowboy drawled in his heavy southern accent.

"Wait a sec. This is my high score." The girl answered.

Taking off his hat and moving her hair out of the way, the vampire said, "Well, ain't you just got the prettiest little neck I ever did see?"

"Boy. You guys really never come up with any new lines, do you?" Buffy sarcastically interrupted from out of the shadows.

"Do you mind? We were talking here." The girl snapped back, not realizing the danger she was in.

"But you promised you'd never cheat on me again, honey." Buffy sassily responded.

"Um…I'd better go."

"But I ain't done yet." The vampire sneered, causing the girl to scream and run.

The evil cowboy circled with Buffy like a vulture as he put his hat securely back on his head. "All right, sugar lips." He warned in a stupid cliché manner. "Giddyup."

"God, no wonder Libby hates all the stereotypical jokes and comments." Buffy scoffed at the ridiculousness that stood in front of her. "I mean do you know how stupid you sound?"

The vamp went to punch her, but Buffy blocked it and threw her own punches. She struck him in the gut and then kicked him into the pinball machine.

"Oh, you're a tough one, ain't ya? I like that."

He went for more swings, but Buffy blocked them all. However, he got lucky and managed to lift Buffy up and slammed her into the same machine. The vamp came over and grabbed her by the neck of her shirt.

"You must be that slayer I've been hearin' so much about. Lyle Gorch. Pleased to meet ya."

At his growl, Buffy kicked him in the gut and sent him tumbling backwards.

"The pleasure's mine." The slayer quipped back and leapt from the machine, stake at the ready.

Gorch summersaulted away and after he rolled to his feet, the southern vampire turned to her and warned, "This ain't over."

Buffy watched him run off and said, "Oh, sure. They say they'll call…"

She left the arcade and made her way to the food court more distracted than before. Buffy kept thinking that with Libby, that Lyle Gorch wouldn't have gotten away. Libby would have telekinetically pulled him back and Buffy would have been able to dust him. It seemed unnatural patrolling and fighting without her protector. As she came upon the food court, Buffy found her mom looking very impatient with their dinner placed in front of her.

"Oh, bliss. Mall food." Buffy said as she sat down and smelled the Chinese.

"Buffy?" Joyce questioned.

"Mom?"

"Where's my dress?"

"Your dre –" Buffy gasped as the forgetfulness was remembered. "Oh…Oh, God."

"Let me guess. You were distracted by a boy."

"Technically." Buffy made a frowny face.

"Buffy," Joyce sighed.

"Look, I can go get it right now." She tried to make up for it but there was no way.

"They're closed. I'll just have to fit it in tomorrow." Joyce informed, not angry but upset.

"Sorry."

"A little responsibility is all I ask. Honestly, do you ever think about anything besides boys and clothes?"

"Saving the world from vampires with my protector who happens to magically be my sister due to a summoning spell and now I lost her because we had a big fight and I really want to find her even though she doesn't want me to because she probably hates me?"

Buffy figured her mom wouldn't believe her, especially since her answer came out in a rapid slur of words, but the reaction still wasn't what she was expecting.

"I swear, sometimes I don't know what goes on in your head. Do you say these things to try to shock me? You are so much better when Libby is around. I don't know how she does it, but that girl brings out the best in you."

Buffy hung her head and whispered, "Not always."

"Wither, wither, wither away…" Drusilla whispered as she played with Edith.

"What's that, pet?" Spike called out as he wheeled his way closer.

"It is time…" She breathed with a crazed smile. "There's no sunshine where she is. Her heart can't find it. So lost."

"The protector? Do you know where she is?" Spike urged his paramour as he rolled the rest of the way.

"No." Dru giggled like he had asked her the most stupid question. "She's everywhere, crying out. The flowers hear her…so can I."

"Dru, I need more than that." Spike was getting irritated. He wanted that protector dead so he could finally do what he does and loves best: kill the slayer.

"Poor lamb. So sad, wandering alone. We can bring her…bring the little lamb to the slaughter." Drusilla purred as she stroked Edith's hair.

"How?" Spike sneered a wicked smile.

"A spell." She stated simply. Dru handed the doll to Spike and steadily walked to the pile of books one of their lackey's kept.

She flipped through the pages as if she were sane and once she found the page, she hopped up and down with a happy, "Oooooh!"

"Tell me it's gruesome." Spike hummed.

"Oh, such fun!"

Libby walked through the cemetery and came upon the mausoleum that was for Alpert. This was the place where she arrived. Not too far away was where she first met Buffy. She hoped that by coming back to the exact spot that maybe she would sense something that would help her get home. Of course, that idea was a total bust.

The brunette was getting ready to head back to the motel when she heard a woman scream. It sounded familiar, but she couldn't match it with a face. The protector followed the terrified shriek as it pierced the peaceful air. Soon, Libby found the violent assault and she felt paralyzed. Five vampires were attacking her mother!

The protector ran for the vampires and flung them away from her mom. Libby tried to help her up, but there was so much blood that she couldn't get a grip on her mom's hand. There were so many bites, blood pooled out of her like water from a glass and Kelley was so pale she looked almost purple.

The group of vampires ran back to them in full attack mode. Libby did her best to fend them off, but they surrounded her and somehow seemed extra strong. The protector wasn't able to take them on all at once. Her mother's moaning grew quieter with each breath.

Just as Libby was about to be bitten, Buffy came out of nowhere and staked the vampire. Libby staked another as one ran off leaving Libby to dust the other two without Buffy's help. As she was fighting the last one she saw Buffy kneeling down to check on her mom.

"She's as good as dead." Buffy reported as the vampire kicked Libby in the jaw.

"You have to help her!" Libby screamed as she was tossed into a tombstone.

"Why? She has like seconds left."

"She's my mother!" Libby tried to yell as the vampire choked her.

"Not anymore." Buffy checked Kelley for a pulse. "I told you. Seconds. She's dead now. Like you will be."

"Buffy!" Libby shrieked with all her might as the vampire locked her hands behind her back and bit down hard on her neck. "BUFFY!"

Libby shot up in bed and felt the chilling goosebumps rise all over her body. Cold sweat moistened her skin and beads rolled down her face, neck and arms. She felt as though her skin was on fire while her insides were in an ice bath. That shouldn't be possible. Libby's breathing was erratic and her heart was racing. The protector squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again, but she couldn't adjust to the darkness and her skull felt like it was going to crack open because of the jackhammer going at it inside her brain. She'd rather feel nauseous to the point of hospitalization…but then again she felt that too.

"What's happening?" Libby groaned as she eased herself back down on the bed.

She's had nightmares before, but not like this. What she just experienced in her sleep was as real as the day she just lived out. Fighting the vampires was as tangible as making the beds. Dreams were meant to fade as you woke up whether you remember details or not, but Libby felt the fantasy and reality bleeding together in the darkness.

"It wasn't real. It wasn't real. It wasn't real." Libby repeated as she wept. "You're all right. Everything will be all right. It wasn't real."

Drusilla's eyes shot open from her own slumber and she smiled, crooning, "No, little lamb…not real…not yet."

Buffy roamed the library doing mindless work. It seemed surreal to be in school with everything that was going on. She'd much rather be out searching for Libby, but unfortunately she had to come to some of her classes. Willow and Xander came through the door after their sex ed. class and were happy to see Buffy somewhat present.

"Buffy, how come you weren't in class?" Willow asked as she cradled her egg in her hands.

"Vampire issues. Did Mr. Whitmore notice I was tardy?"

"I think the word you're searching for is "absent"." Xander corrected.

"Tardy people show." Willow agreed.

"Right." Buffy groaned.

"And yes, he did notice so he wanted me to give you this." Willow replied as she handed Buffy her egg assignment.

Buffy took the egg and looked it over saying, "As far as punishments go, this is fairly abstract."

"No! It's your baby." Willow said with a big, happy smile.

"Okay, I get it even less." Buffy frowned.

"Well, you know, it's the whole "sex leads to responsibility" thing, which I personally don't get," Xander explained. "You gotta take care of the egg. It's a baby. You gotta keep it safe and teach it Christian values."

"My egg is Jewish." Willow innocently countered.

"Then teach it that dreidel song." Xander suggested.

"I can't do this. I can't take care of things! I killed my Giga Pet. Literally. I sat on it and it broke." Buffy winced at the memory and put the egg down before walking away. "Besides, if I can't even take care of my protector how the hell am I supposed to take care of a baby?"

"You'll do fine," Willow comforted. "Libby will come back soon and this isn't a real baby. Just don't sit on your egg."

"The only thing that stresses me is when do we tell them they're adopted?" Xander added, trying to lighten the mood.

"I'll just lay that one off on my partner. Who'd I get?" Buffy flatly asked.

"Well," Willow began tentatively. "There were an uneven number of students since Libby wasn't in class…and since you didn't show –"

"I'm a single mother?" Buffy gasped, wide eyed in disgust.

"No man of her own." Xander confirmed.

"Do you know what this says about me? That I am doomed to lead my mother's life. How deeply scary is that?" Buffy ranted as she walked back over to her friends. "And I don't even have Libby to help me and be the cool aunt."

"How about this?" Xander offered in irritation. "It says nothing, it means nothing. This whole egg experiment is completely pointless."

"Success at last," Giles announced as he came out from his pile of books in the caged off room. "Your playmate is a fellow of repute, it seems."

As Giles was about to place the heavy book down on the counter, Buffy saw her egg was in danger and grabbed it safely out of the way.

"It's, erm…Lyle Gorch. And that one's his brother, Tector. They're from Abilene. They made their reputation by massacring an entire Mexican village in 1886."

"Friendly little demons." Buffy commented as she looked at the picture.

"That was before they became vampires." Giles informed as he cleaned his glasses.

"Wait," Buffy said as she had a closer look at the book. "They're from Texas."

"Yes, that's where Abilene is located. Why is that –"

"I bet Libby knows where that is." Buffy moaned in sadness as she placed her head down on the book.

As they were all going to try and comfort her, Jenny walked in with an announcement. "Libby isn't going to be back for a while."

"What?" Willow whimpered.

"Why not? Where is she?" Xander demanded in a rush.

"She sent me an email explaining how she's not ready to come back and that she'd appreciate it if I'd send her the homework from her classes."

"Why wouldn't she come to me with this? And how can she get her homework if she doesn't attend her classes?" Giles inquired.

"She must have picked up some skills from Willow because Principal Snyder got a convincing doctor's note saying Libby has mono and excused her from classes until she's better." Jenny answered. "All her teachers got his email explaining this and that we are to send her the homework."

"She hates me," Buffy said as she placed her sorrowful head back down on the book. "She never wants to see me again."

"That's not true." Giles said.

"She just needs some time." Jenny honestly added.

"Why don't we focus on the Gorches?" Giles recommended. "Now, the good news is that they're not amongst the great thinkers of our time. I doubt if they're up to much – just probably drawn here by the Hellmouth's energy."

"'Nough said. I propose Buffy slays them. All in favor?" Xander commented.

"Aye." Willow agreed, raising her hand along with Xander.

"I don't think you should underestimate them. I mean, you may need to have some help if…" Giles paused as he saw all of his charges holding their babies. "Why do you all have eggs?"

"Hey, maybe Angel you can help you…since Libby can't right now." Willow proposed, trying to sound cheery.

"Yes, that's not a bad idea. Strength in numbers." Giles agreed.

"All right. I see a lot of hunting getting done in that scenario." Xander sarcastically groaned.

"Please. Like Angel and I are just helpless slaves to passion. Grow up." Buffy snapped back.

"Libby would agree with me." Xander huffed under his breath.

Drusilla sat on Spike's lap as she traced her fingers over his burns without touching his skin. Spike held her close to him and purred in her ear.

"Now, tell me, love…what is this spell going to do to the protector exactly?"

"The nightmares will ravage her brain and make her weak. Soon she'll start seeing through the veil of her worst fears, making her unsure. It will drive her mad," Dru wickedly cackled in joy. "Mad enough to expose her fragile, defenseless self so we can slaughter and feed."

"So we just have to wait until she wanders out, you find her and then I'll feed on her and finally get out of this chair!"

"Yes, my Spike. And hunting's half the fun."

Spike chuckled deep in his throat. "My pet, the big bad wolves are going to have a party."

After a night of patrolling – or kissing Angel as is more accurate – Buffy got ready for bed and tucked her egg baby in too.

"Okay, little egg dude. Let's see…Feeding, check…Burping, ugh, check…Diapers, sort of. In theory, I guess." Putting her journal away, she turned off the light and said, "Goodnight, Egbert."

However, it wasn't a good night. Mischievous little Egbert broke through the shell encasing him and a long, wormy leg traveled and grew into something that resembled an alien hand in order to slide across the bed and grab hold of Buffy. It went into her ears and all across her face and by doing so, drained the energy and alertness right out of her.

Libby stepped through the door and into her motel room after a long three hours of cleaning. She was beginning to take off her clothes so she could take a shower when the front door swung open and banged into the wall. Libby spun around in a panic, but what she saw was impossible.

There stood her mother, as healthy and normal as ever, smiling at her the way she always did when she got home from work. Kelley held out her hand to her daughter with glad, pleading eyes.

"Come home, sweetheart," she whispered. "I miss you so much. You don't have to be here anymore. You belong here, at home, with me."

Tears flowed from Libby's eyes like never before. They were few, but heavy with sorrow and hope. She couldn't help but sigh a smile and step closer to the open door. Libby could see her living room and realized that her mom was standing in the front door of their house. All she had to do was step through and she'd be back home.

"Mommy," Libby wept in pure happiness. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too."

Libby was about to walk over the threshold when Buffy appeared out of nowhere and tackled her protector to the ground. Libby fought against her, screaming, but Buffy was too strong. Glaring, the slayer kicked the door shut and reached up to lock the door.

"NO!" Libby howled.

"You thought you could actually leave? That I'd LET you leave?" Buffy hollered. "You can NEVER leave, Libby! Ever! You're going to stay here until you die. And not a moment sooner."

"Please, no! Please just let me go!" Libby wailed uncontrollably.

At Buffy's crazed and desperate smirk, the protector shot her through the door to reveal the same old hallway and bellowed, "NOO –

OOO!" Libby's voice was so hoarse that it felt as though someone had poured acid down her throat.

The same physical reaction consumed her body along with a brutal stabbing sensation in her stomach as well as double vision. She couldn't help it…Libby began to cry and hope left her tear-ducts even more than her actual tears.

Giles went to the second level in order to get a book and when he ventured back to the short stairs he found Xander, Willow and Buffy all standing at the bottom and looking up at him with zombie eyes.

"Oh! Why are you three hanging about? Don't you have classes to go to?"

"Teen Health got canceled." Willow answered.

"Mr. Whitmore is ab. He couldn't find an egg-sitter or somethin'." Xander added.

"Well then, can you give me a hand?" Giles asked as he went through the book.

"No." Buffy and Willow whined simultaneously as they sat down together on the stairs.

"Sure." Xander accepted and bounded up the stairs while his girl friends got comfy.

"How did the, um, hunt go last night, Buffy?" Giles called out from a bookshelf.

"No go."

"N-No, you didn't go or…or you were unsuccessful?" Giles inquired further, perplexed by her response.

"No Gorches."

"Apparently, Buffy has decided the problem with the English language is all those pesky words." Xander poked fun. ""You." "Angel." "Big." "Smoochies."."

"Shut. Up." Buffy said in a robot voice.

"It's true, Buffy. You and Willow do seem a little sluggish." Giles observed. "Are you quite sure everything's all right?"

"Besides the fact that my protector is MIA and hating me?" Buffy said a lot more nonchalantly than usual.

"Maybe it's something we ate." Willow countered.

"Or perhaps it's the burden of parenthood. Notice how seriously you take this egg thing?" Xander replied, causing the girls to pout and hold their eggs closer to their chests. "While I have, uh…well, chosen a more balanced approach."

Xander took his egg out and began throwing it up in the air from hand to hand, making everyone twitch in the process.

"Xander! Maybe you shouldn't –" Willow started but Xander continued.

"That's what I'm talkin' about. You can't stress over every little thing. A child picks up on that. Which is a one way ticket to Neurotic City."

Then it happened. Xander wasn't able to catch his egg and it fell to the floor…with a thud, not a spilling open and oozing all over the carpet like it should. All three, especially the girls, gasped in fear and the egg fell in slow motion to its doom. Only there was no doom.

"It didn't break. How come it didn't break?" Willow practically scolded.

"Which is another secret to conscientious egg care. Pot of scalding water and about 8 minutes."

"You boiled your young?" Willow responded in disbelief.

"Yeah, I know it sounds cruel, but sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind. I mean you bet that little Xander here is thick-skinned now." Xander concluded as he bent down to pick up his egg son.

"Technically, that would be cheating, yes?" Giles joined in.

"No, it's like a shortcut. You know, when you run a race?"

"That would also be cheating." Buffy said.

"You should be ashamed." Willow disapproved.

"I supposed there is a Machiavellian ingenuity to your transgression." Giles pondered as he continued on with his books.

"I resent that!" Xander exploded. "Or possibly thank you."

"It figures you three would be hanging in the dungeon while something major's going on in Sunnydale High." Cordelia exclaimed as she walked over to them all.

"And what would that be, Cordelia? Barrette Appreciation Day?" Xander quipped.

"Mr. Whitmore didn't show today." Cordy replied.

"That news is of the past." Buffy answered in a monotone.

"He's missing. Presumed dead!"

"Presumed by whom?" Giles asked, losing his patience.

"Well, me." Cordelia crossed her arms like that was relevant enough.

"I think we should give him a few hours before we give up on him completely." Giles said.

"Well, I think we should look around. Don't you, Xander?"

"It can wait."

"Well, his body could fall out of a closet somewhere. So we should check some closets to see if he's in…a closet?"

"You're right," Xander got the hint. "There could be a closet. Let's go." He then looked to Buffy and Willow. "You guys look for more clues. We'll meet back here."

Xander then grabbed Cordy's hand and they both left the library.

"We'll get right on it." Buffy said in her zombie voice.

"Are they getting weirder? Have you noticed the weirdness of them?" Willow asked.

"They're weird." Buffy replied. "Should I have guilt about not looking for Mr. Whitmore?"

"I'd rather you conserve your strength for hunting the Gorches." Giles answered.

"I'll be fine by tonight. Maybe I'll sweep the cemetery." Buffy thought aloud.

"Be careful. If you're still feeling sluggish…" Giles tried to say, but Buffy reassured him.

"No worries."

"And Angel's helping you, right?" Willow interjected.

"He does what he can." Buffy smiled.

Buffy and Angel made out the cemetery. It kind of became their routine. Buffy loved it, not only because she loved him but because it made her feel better about her life for a little while.

"As much as I hate to say this," Buffy said as she broke a heated kiss between them. "We should really go kill bad guys."

They kissed again.

"It's late. You should get home." Angel replied.

Kissed again.

"What about the Gorches?" Buffy asked mid-kiss.

"I'll hunt." Angel answered as their lips parted.

"Really? You'd do that?" Buffy smiled.

"It's not like I have an early day tomorrow."

Buffy kissed him and said, "True. I still have to go home and fill out my egg diary."

"Your what?"

"Oh, I told you that faux parenting gig we're doing in school. Like I'm really planning to have kids anytime soon. Maybe someday in the future when I'm done having a life…and when they can have an Aunt Libby. But right now, kids would be a little too much to deal with."

"I wouldn't know," Angel solemnly said. "I don't…Well, you know, I can't."

"Oh, that's okay," Buffy sighed as she leaned against a crypt. "I figured there were all sorts of things vampires can't do…you know, like work for the telephone company or volunteer for the Red Cross…or have little vampires."

"So you don't think about the future?"

"No."

"Never?"

"No."

Angel sighed in curiosity. "You really don't care what happens a year from now? Five years from now?"

"Angel, when I look into the future…all I see is you. Sure, I now hope that Libby is back in my life because my missing her is manifesting itself into a tattoo burning off my arm – if you hadn't noticed my impromptu ramblings – but it's all you. All I want is you."

"I know the feeling." Angel whispered, briefly looking at her completely unchanged tattoo. Hoping it was nothing too serious, he leaned down to take his lips in hers and they shared a deep and beautiful kiss, full of love and hope for the future.

Libby tossed and turned in her bed. Getting through the last two nights and acting like a live human being for only a day was torture. She barely got through it the pain was so constant. It was like she had the worst flu of her life only worse because she repeatedly got flashes of her nightmares.

The protector began to thrash. She could feel herself trapped in her sleep and the pain her wrist was unbearable.

Vampires kept coming out of the woodwork. Buffy was having no problem in defeating one after the other, but Libby couldn't handle it. No matter what she did, the vampires kept thwarting and attacking her. The bites throbbed her flesh and her strength greatly waned as pints blood left her system.

Libby screamed for help, but Buffy was too preoccupied with her own battle to pay attention to her protector's cries. Libby was struck down and it felt as through her spine cracked with the blow.

As the protector tried to get back up, the vampires descended and devoured her. Libby tried to scream, but nothing traveled on her breath. As a vampire turned her head to get at her neck, Libby saw her friends, Tiffany and Sean, sitting on a bench. They were eating popcorn and watching her die like it was a boring horror film.

"I don't get why she's here anyway," Tiffany said as she took another handful of popcorn. "I mean it's not like she's making a difference. She's more like the sixth wheel who doesn't do anything."

Sean laughed with a mouthful of popcorn. "Right? But what's amazing is that she's even more useless here."

They laughed as everything began to darken in Libby's eyes. She glanced over at Buffy with her last ray of hope and saw that she was victorious in her battle. "Thanks for distracting them. If you didn't die, I sure would have." Buffy smiled down at her protector.

Libby couldn't say anything. Everything was shutting down and going black.

Libby shot up and hyperventilated. She couldn't calm down. Every fiber, every cell in her body was on crack and sharply zipping through her body like scissors cutting paper. Libby couldn't focus and she couldn't come down.

"Pain, pain, pain," Libby mumbled. "Dying. Dying? No reason. Why isn't there a reason? I left, can't be happening. Why is this happening?" She sobbed and rolled in a ball on her bed. "No sleeping anymore. No rest comes of it anyway. Can't sleep. Pain is sleep, sleep is pain."

Not that she could sleep. The pain was too intense now and her mind was leaving her in pieces. Pieces the protector was afraid she wouldn't get back.

Buffy climbed in through her window like she always did only this time she wasn't alone. Egbert started to jiggle and slight cracking sounds were muffled under the shell. Buffy walked over and leaned down to examine her egg. It started to shake like it was a captive in a cage. Suddenly, the egg burst open and revealed a pinkish alien creature with spiny legs. It shot out from its egg to latch onto Buffy's face but she diverted the jump.

The slayer backed up and watched it crawl away under her bed. She reached down and picked up her clothing iron in order to smash it to death once it made itself known. Buffy inched toward the bed until she crouched down and looked under ready to kill. Nothing. She got back to her feet and scanned the room. It was nowhere to be seen. Until it sprung out of thin air onto her shoulder, trying to latch itself to her body. The slayer was able to grab it and throw it across the room. It immediately crawled away, but it was so fast that Buffy had trouble following. She really missed her sister and her telekinetic powers. If Libby were there, that thing would be dead by now and would never having gotten to the point of stalking her like she was prey.

Buffy reached for her monstrous scissors and held them at the ready. As she headed toward the broken egg filled with blue slime, she heard the creature crawling up the wall. In one movement, the slayer stabbed it as hard as she could. It squealed as Buffy took it from the wall and stabbed it on the floor over and over again until it was finally dead.

Completely ooged out, Buffy reached for the phone and called Willow to make sure that this wouldn't happen to her. "Come on, pick up."

"Hello?" Willow said.

"Willow, are you okay?"

"Why shouldn't I be?"

"Your egg. Is it doing anything?" Buffy asked in a panic.

"Doing what?"

"Break it. Right now. I want you to smash it with something heavy." Buffy ordered.

"Buffy, what –" Willow tried.

"My egg. It went postal on me. The thing hatched and it sprung this creepy-crawly thing and it attacked me."

"Are you okay?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. But your egg –"

"Is totally normal. I put it in the fridge."

"Oh…"

"Maybe it's a trap," Willow thought. "Something the Gorch brothers planted for you?"

"Maybe. Yeah. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have woken you. Go back to sleep."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm better. I'm – I'm fine."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow." Willow hung up the phone…only it wasn't Willow. Buffy called a minute too late. The creature was now controlling her body.

Buffy hung up the phone just in time for her mother to hear her and come in.

"What's going on in here?"

Buffy automatically hid the demon body under a cloth before she stood up to face her mother.

"Buffy, who are you talking to at this…" As soon as Joyce came in, she saw her daughter fully dressed and it did not please her. "Why are you dressed? Where exactly do you think you're going at this hour of the night?"

"Nowhere." Buffy squirmed where she stood.

"Who was that on the phone?"

"Um…Libby! She had a really hard day today and wanted to talk."

"Oh, really? At this hour?" Joyce challenged as she crossed her arms.

"Yes…she forgot about the time difference."

"If she's in Texas like you said, then it's 4:45am her time," Joyce scowled. "You're gonna have to do a lot better than that, young lady."

Buffy cringed. "I had a bad dream?"

"Oh no, you're about to have a bad dream – a dream that you're grounded for the rest of your natural life." Joyce harshly scolded.

"Which means no after-school socializing, no Bronze, no nothing. Not until I say so." Joyce re-enforced as she dropped Buffy off in front of the school. "Do you understand?"

"Yeah, but I think you…"

"Now, school ends at 2:30. I want you to go to the library at 2:33 and study until I pick you up there at 5:30. Understood?"

"Yeah." Buffy rolled her eyes. If she only understood.

"Good. Have a nice day."

Buffy got out of the car and couldn't help but give her mom the stink eye as she drove away. Buffy hopped up the stairs and when she saw Cordelia she ran over to her in order to see if her egg was as crazy as hers.

"Nice bear. Listen, is your –"

"Hey, all have you know my father brought this bear back from Gstaad years ago. Then all the trendoids everywhere start supporting them, so I'm totally not wearing it. Then I thought, "Hey, I'm the one who started this nationwide craze. What am I ashamed of?""

"Okay, Soliloquy Girl. I just wanted to ask about your egg." Buffy groaned at all that was Cordelia.

"My egg?"

"Yeah, your egg. The one Mr. Whitmore gave you."

"It's in my bear."

"So…your egg isn't acting off or anything?"

"It isn't "acting" anything. It's an egg, Buffy. It doesn't emote. God, Libby was so much better at this. Shanice! Is that your real hair?"

Buffy took a deep breath and counted to three. Like Libby wasn't constantly on her mind, she didn't need Cordy throwing it in her face like that.

Willow touched her shoulder and greeted, "Hey."

"Hi." Buffy smiled needing to see her friendly face.

Meanwhile, Xander being Xander decided it was a better idea to eat his egg instead of his cardboardy breakfast bar. However, as Buffy and Willow came over discussing her egg issue, Xander saw the demon inside his egg and screamed so hard he fell off the bench he was sitting on. The Scooby Gang immediately assembled and gathered around the dissecting table. No one stood close enough to touch them, only observe.

"Can I just say…gyeurgh!" Xander squirmed with revulsion.

"I see your gyeurgh and raise you a nyargh." Buffy agreed wholeheartedly at the grossness in front of them.

"What is it?" Cordelia asked.

"We don't know what it is, Cordelia. That's why we're here. Capeesh?" Xander sarcastically responded.

""Capeesh"? What are you world traveler now?" Cordy snipped back.

As Willow walked back in, Buffy asked, "Hey, where's Giles? I know he wouldn't want to miss this."

"He said to get started," Willow answered. "He'll be by as soon as possible."

"So, okay. Get started, Buffy. Dissect it or something." Xander said.

"Me? Why do I have to dissect it?"

"Because you're the slayer."

"And I slayed. My work here is done."

"Oh, no. I almost ate one of these things. I think I fulfilled my gross-out quota for the decade."

"Guys." Willow lightly reprimanded to get them focused.

"Do we even know what to look for? I mean, how are we supposed to figure out what this thing is?" Xander asked, missing Libby's knowledge of pretty much everything…a lot.

"Turn it over. Maybe we missed its ID bracelet." Buffy teased.

"No, our ID bracelet is out with fake mono," Xander mumbled before saying, "Well, I guess we now know what happened to Mr. Whitmore."

"He saw this and ran away?" Cordelia pondered.

"Try "best-case scenario"." Buffy replied, doubting that with every fiber of her being.

"It's possible that Mr. Whitmore wasn't harmed," Willow calmly educated. "Maybe the offspring used him to return to the mother bezoar."

"Yeah, maybe he…What?" Xander stuttered, totally taken aback.

"What's a bezo –"

Buffy wasn't able to finish because Cordy hit her as hard as she could with a long and thick pointer. Xander was also unable to form a sentence due to Willow slamming a blender down on his head, causing him to black out.

The two girls, now being controlled by the bezoar offspring, lifted Buffy and Xander into the science room closet and locked them in with two unhatched eggs. Feeling satisfied they headed for the basement to help their siblings in freeing their mother from the ground.

Libby opened her eyes and saw Giles sitting on the edge of her bed. She shot up and rubbed her eyes. "I swear I didn't fall asleep. I didn't. It's not bedtime yet." She whined but when she opened her eyes, Giles was still there.

"Are you going to kill me?" Libby asked timidly.

Giles smiled and shook his head. "No, of course not."

"Then what are you doing in my dream?"

"Ever think you're not?" Giles asked. "Dreaming, that is?"

"Of course I'm dreaming. It's driving me crazy."

"Oh, that's not why you're going crazy." The watcher suggested in his wise and fatherly tone.

"What do you mean?"

"Libby, you have responsibilities here and abandoning them is very selfish of you. You're having these dreams because of your guilt. If you don't own up to what you've done you will be consumed by your guilt."

"Giles –"

"You are being very selfish and immature. If you don't give up your life in service of your destiny then you will prove yourself to be nothing."

Giles' voice grew harsh and serious and it pierced her heart. She couldn't say anything because there was nothing she could say. After everything she was witnessing in her mind, maybe there was some truth to it? Libby closed her eyes and hung her head, but when she looked up Giles was gone. Disappeared.

"Must have woken up." She whispered.

Just then, a knock sounded on her door. Libby rolled out of bed and walked to the door. When she peeked through the eyehole, she saw Steve standing there.

"Hi." Libby murmured.

"Are you all right? Who were you talking to?"

"What?"

"You've seemed really out of it and I just heard you talking to yourself. I wanted to make sure that you were okay. Do you think you need a doctor? You look sick."

"You heard me talking?" Libby asked, really confused. " I must've been sleep talking. I must've…"

"Libby?"

"I'm fine. Just really tired and stressed. Thanks for checking on me."

With that Libby closed the door on a shocked and worried manager and took in sharp, frightened breaths. She was dreaming, right?

As soon as Buffy regained consciousness she rose to her feet and turned on the light. Xander was lying on his back, but seemed void of serious damage.

"Hey! Xander, hey!" Buffy hissed and lightly slapped him in order to wake him. "You all right?" She asked when his eyes opened.

"Last time Cordy dragged me in here, it was a lot nicer." Xander groaned.

"What?"

"Huh? Nothing. Uh, crazy talk. Head trauma." Xander back peddled.

Buffy nodded and she slowly help him to his feet. "Tell me about it. I'm gonna have a big bump."

"Um, I'm gonna have a peninsula…here," Xander complained. "What…What the hell's goin' on? Cordy and Willow…?"

"Something to do with the hatchlings, I'm sure of it."

Buffy tried the door to no avail so her eyes continued to search for a way out.

"What, are they possessed?"

"I don't know. But they sure wanted us out of the way." Buffy answered.

"Why not kill us? Why…uh…why drag us in here?"

That's when they both looked down and saw two eggs ready to hatch. This caused Xander to panic, but the slayer kept her cool and dropped a heavy toolbox on them. Black ooz spread out on the floor on impact, a sheer sign that they were dead. Feeling much better, Buffy kicked the door open and headed for the library with Xander right behind her.

"Giles!" Buffy yelled.

"Giles! He must be out somewhere."

"Well, he picked a hell of a time to get a life." Buffy moaned.

"What do we do? We don't have an all-knowing protector and the research buff watcher is gone." Xander rambled in growing fear.

"I know, Xander," Buffy screamed, trying to maintain her composure. "I know who's not here, but that doesn't mean we can lose it. Now, we can't fight these things until we know something about 'em."

"Right, I'm sorry. Um, Willow said something – a name. What was it?" Xander helped.

"A bozo! Not a bozo."

"A bezoar!"

"That's it. Okay. So now…we look it up?"

"In what?" Xander genuinely asked at the sight of his friend's lost eyes.

"A book?"

They both turned to the counter and saw the page Giles was reading and thankfully it was the page they needed.

"Giles said he was gonna try to find something…and I'd say he found something." Buffy confirmed.

Crunch.

Xander lifted his foot and saw an already cracked and now smooshed eggshell. "I'd say something found him."

""Pre-prehistoric parasite. The mother hibernates underground, laying eggs,"" Buffy read. "The offspring then attach themselves to a host taking control of their motor functions through neural clamping."

"Neural clamping? That sounds skippable."

"So our people are taking orders from the momma bezoar. Which begs the question…"

"What does Momma want?"

"Somebody help me!" A boy in the hall suddenly started shrieking at the top of his lungs. "Get this thing off me! Get this thing off me! Help!"

Buffy and Xander ran out to find Jonathon picking himself off the floor as if nothing happened. "Are you okay?" She asked.

"I'm fine. I slipped."

Jonathan turned away from them, but it wasn't fooling Buffy or Xander for a second.

"I think I hear Mommy calling." Buffy said.

"Uh huh." Xander concurred.

Buffy went through all of the notes lying out on Libby's bed. The protector returned from her work in the motel and heard someone on the other side of her door. When she entered, Libby saw Buffy standing by the bed going over all of her papers.

"Buffy?"

"Hey, you're not an easy person to find," Buffy lightly giggled. "Are you okay? You don't look so great."

Libby closed her eyes at the sound of Buffy's kind voice. It was so comforting to hear that from her. "I'm horrible," Libby cried. "I've never felt so horrible in my life. It feels like I'm going crazy and it's killing me."

"I'm sorry, that's a real problem."

"I don't know what's happening."

"It's probably a punishment."

Libby's eyes shot up to meet Buffy's totally puzzled. The slayer looked concerned and kind, but there was something else… "What do you mean?" Libby asked.

"Think about it. This didn't happen until you walked out on me. Maybe this is what happens to protectors when they abandon their slayers." Buffy sat on the bed and patted the spot next to her. Libby sat down as she thought about her sister's theory. "I don't want you to be upset, but what else could this be?"

"I don't know." Libby breathed.

"Good thing I found you. Maybe now you'll be all right."

Libby glanced over with a faint smile and said, "Maybe."

"Then again, you're probably gonna die a slow and insane death because you were stupid enough to think you could escape."

"What?"

"Oh, come on. You have no semblance of loyalty and you're barely competent even when you were trying your best. It's no wonder you wanted to leave." Buffy got to her feet and towered over her sister. "Good riddance to you. The only reason I came to find you was to tell you to your face how insignificant you turned out to be."

"Buffy, please."

"Shut up! Don't you dare cry! Your tears mean nothing because you mean nothing! Just go insane and die alone! Actually, no, that's not fair to me. It was my mistake bringing you here so I should be the one to kill you."

Libby sprung up and stumbled backwards in terror. "Buffy, don't – you don't have to."

"Begging's not gonna help you."

Just as Buffy was about to stab her in the heart with a stake, she disappeared right before Libby's eyes. This time, she knew she was awake.

"Hallucinations. Now I'm having full blown hallucinations."

Libby tumbled to the ground in a heap as her body gave out. There was no strength left in her and the pain was driving her over the edge. She couldn't last much longer.

Jonathan walked directly to the boiler room and deeper into the basement. Buffy and Xander followed fairly close behind but the offspring didn't notice, he just walked through a gaping hole in the cement wall.

"Do we really wanna go in there?" Xander moaned.

"We really don't."

As Buffy took the lead and went through the hole, Xander regretfully followed. The sight they came upon was so wrong. Everyone they knew, innocent victims, were hacking away and the concrete floor getting filthier and filthier just to free a ginormous and nasty momma bezoar.

"What are they diggin' up?" Xander asked.

The nasty squishy and groaning sounds answered him.

"Oh, boy." Buffy whimpered with dread.

"Telekinetic backup would be awesome right now." Xander whispered.

Ignoring his comment, Buffy said, "We can't let them spread those eggs."

"I'll handle it. Can you hold down the fort?"

"I'm gonna need a weapon. I'm gonna need a big weapon."

"Yeah." Xander muttered as he ventured forward and Buffy doubled back to prepare for the big fight.

As he walked ahead, Giles stopped and handed him a piece of stone they chipped away. Xander accepted it, but dropped it to the side in order to continue his way to the baskets of eggs. Cordelia had one that was recently filled so he followed her up to a special corridor.

Buffy made it to the boiler room, but as she searched for a weapon, two unexpected and uninvited visitors made themselves known. The slayer turned around and saw the Gorch brothers smirking at her.

"I told you this weren't over." Lyle greeted.

"She's so cute, and little." Tector said. "D'you think we can keep her?"

"Guys, this really isn't a great time." Buffy spat.

"Oh, it's gonna be." Lyle countered.

Buffy decided to waste no more time and struck them both in the face with a large metal pipe she found. Tector retaliated by punching her, but Buffy wasn't stalled and kicked him in the gut, sending him crashing into metal shelves.

"Hey! That's my brother!" Lyly roared.

He tackled Buffy through the hole and they tumbled into the center of Momma Bezoar's resting place.

"What the hell is this?" Lyle questions as they got to their feet.

Right as Buffy noticed her mom, Willow ordered, "Kill them."

The offspring's hosts gathered around Buffy and Gorch, but the two were able to fight them off without too much trouble.

"What the hell is goin' on?" Lyle demanded.

"Long story."

As a response, Gorch stopped fighting the people and went for another round with the slayer. He didn't do very well because in a matter of seconds, Buffy kicked him into a wall.

Meanwhile, Xander subtly caught up with Cordelia and subdued the guy who was accompanying her. However, this did not please Cordy.

"Cordelia. I don't want to hurt you – some of the time." Xander proclaimed with his hands up. Sadly, Cordy didn't care and hit him as hard as she could as he bent down to get the eggs. "Yow!" Xander shouted. "That's my bump!" He had no choice. Xander punched her right in the face. And it didn't feel so great.

Buffy was back to fighting the victims and was actually a little thankful that Lyle Gorch was there to even up the number of attackers.

"Well, all right." Tector said as he entered the fight scene, but was immediately distracted by the mother bezoar. He walked over to it and cooed, "Well, lookee there. Well, hello."

The mother bezoar didn't open her eyes to say hello. It wrapped one of it gangly, but strong arms around his neck and pulled him into the crater so it could kill him.

"Tector!" Lyle yelled as he watched his brother die. "Tector?" Infuriated, he turned to Buffy and growled, "This is all your fault."

"How?" Buffy said completely vexed.

He hurled her down on her back where Buffy looked up to see her mom ready to axe her. The slayer managed to move out of the way in time, but the bezoar wrapped a coil arm around her legs and began to pull Buffy in. Reaching for something, anything to defend herself, she grabbed an axe and hacked away at the momma herself the moment she fell into the pit. The second it died, all of its children died too, releasing the hold over the victims. Everyone fell to the ground as Buffy rose from the hole covered in black blood of the bezoar. Her face literally said, 'Try it. I dare you.'

Lyle saw this and fearfully said, "All right. It's over." And he ran.

Everyone walked out in a haze of confusion and unidentifiable smells. Giles tried to keep a lid on it by saying it was a gas leak and thankfully everyone seemed to be buying it.

Giles walked over to Xander and asked, "What was it really?"

"Stick with the gas thing. I'll fill you in tomorrow."

"Right." Giles mumbled as he left and Xander turned back to Cordelia and Willow.

"How you guys doin'?" Xander thoughtfully inquired.

"Did I really hit you?" Willow guiltily whimpered.

"You knocked me out."

"Did I hit you?" Cordy asked.

"Yes! Everyone hit me."

"Good. Well, I don't mean good because I hit you, but I didn't want to be left out."

Xander saw Buffy walking over to them out of the corner of his eye and met her half way.

"How is she?" Buffy asked in a new, cleaner change of clothes.

"She's a bit confused, but it's goin' around."

"Right, well, at least we can say that we survived a demon attack without Libby." Buffy awkwardly said with a fake and weak smile.

"Yeah, but I'd love to not go through one without her ever again. This was awful. Really, really awful." Xander replied humorlessly.

"Where is she?" Buffy nearly cried in a whisper.

Xander was about to go and hug her when Buffy saw her mom and had to go over and face what was undoubtedly coming. "Are you okay?" Buffy asked.

"Buffy, I was worried you had gotten caught in the building. There was a gas leak."

"Yeah, I just heard. I was in the gym."

"I went looking for you in the library."

"I was on my way there when…"

"I thought I made it perfectly clear that you weren't to leave the library until I came."

"The other side of that is there was a gas leak –"

"I'm not really interested in the other side right now. Young lady, you have to learn some responsibility, okay? Once and for all."

"I'm grounded." Buffy groaned. This was pure agony.

"You're already grounded." Joyce reminded in aggravation.

"Oh yeah."

"Until further notice, you are confined to your room. You will not leave your room at any time except to go to school and the bathroom. Am I making myself clear?"

"You're clear…I won't leave my room."

"You're damn right you won't."

Libby's body shook as cold sweat moistened her skin. Her insides were twisting and tightening causing bruises to form under her flesh. Libby couldn't think straight because her double vision wouldn't cease nor her migraine. The protector shot up at the sound of footsteps but instead of seeing a threat, she saw her mother standing by the foot of the bed.

"Mom?" Libby whimpered. "You're not here."

"That doesn't mean what I have to say isn't important."

Libby scooted over to the foot of the bed and stood up as soon as her feet touched the floor, but somehow she couldn't reach her mother. It was like being in a strange, discombobulated fun house. No matter what she did, she couldn't reach for her mom.

"Listen to me, sweetheart," Kelley said sweetly. "You're in danger. Death will befall you if you stay here like this. You have to find your way home before it's too late."

"How can I? Mom, I don't know what to do."

"You have to find your way home before it's too late."

"I heard – Mom, what do I have to do? I can't –"

Suddenly, Libby felt movement behind her. Everything went cold and silent and dead. As Kelley faded away, Libby cautiously turned around and saw Drusilla. She was vamped out and sneering. Libby had no time to scream because as she was opening her mouth, Drusilla sank her teeth into Libby's neck.