Alyscia sighed. She glanced over at her mom, who smiled a reassuring smile. "Are you sure I can do this?" Aly asked.

"Yes, dear, I know you can. You are, after all, my daughter."

Graham walked in with three sodas. "Hey! She's mine too!" He grinned at his wife.

"Yes, dear, but she is more mine."

Graham chuckled.

Alyscia covered her face in her hands. "How come when I do good, I'm yours, mom, but when I'm bad, I'm all dad's?"

"It's the way of the world, honey," Willow smiled.

There was a knock on the door, then it opened. Forrest, Jenny, and Alex were there. "Hey, guys, mom said the new Watcher was coming over, so we decided we needed to be here," Forrest said.

Alyscia smiled at her friends. "Thanks, you guys."

"Well," Willow said, "Graham and I are going to go to the other room, so you four can talk to him by yourselves. Let us know if you need us."

"Yes, mom," Aly said.

A few minutes after her mom and dad left the living room, there was a knock on the door. Alyscia went and opened it. Jonathan Turner stood there. "Alyscia," he said. "I trust you have decided to follow your destiny?"

"Yep," she grinned. "But we are going by my rules, not the stuffy Council's."

"What?" he asked. Again, this child surprised him. The Council never spoke of a Slayer being unruly, unless it was Buffy Summers....

With a groan, Jonathan realized just what he got himself into. This was, after all, a girl who considered Buffy her aunt.

Alyscia stepped aside and motioned for Jonathan to enter. He stopped in midstride when he saw three other children staring up at him. "Who are they?" he asked, turning to Aly. "Do they....know?"

"We know Alyscia is the Slayer," Forrest said. "We don't think she should put her life in danger, but we understand the necessity of a destiny. I mean, since my mom was the Slayer..." He sat back with his hands behind his head, waiting for the information to sink in.

"You belong to Buffy Summers?" Jonathan asked.

"My sister Jennifer and I do, yes. And that's Alex Harris, Xander's son. And you must be aware that Alyscia is Willow's. And just as Xander and Willow helped mom, we are going to help Alyscia."

Jonathan turned to Alyscia. "This is *highly* unsanctioned. The Council is completely against any outside help."

"Yea, right, I'm going to do it by myself and die. I'm sure," Alyscia said sarcastically. "Also, my Uncle Spike and Uncle Angel will help."

"Spike and Angel? Why do those names ring a bell?" Jonathan asked.

Alyscia's grin was mischievous. "Probably because you've heard of them. You might know them as William the Bloody and Angelus."

Jonathan paled at the thought of working with two vampires. "Oooh, no, not vampires. Alyscia, you are supposed to destroy them!"

Alex stood up. He was normally the quiet one, but the thought of Spike and Angel being gone upset him. "Not Spike and Angel," Alex said calmly. "They have been a part of our parent's lives since before we were even thought of, and were a part of ours since the beginning."

"But..." Jonathan started.

"Your Slayer trusts them with her life, and with ours," Jenny countered. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"

"Well..."

"You don't even have to work with them directly," Alyscia shrugged. "When we need them to do research, you can go home."

Jonathan's mouth dropped open. He had no control of this situation, which frightened him. He was supposed to always keep control. "You can't do research without your Watcher!"

The children laughed. "Whoo," Forrest chuckled, "Can't do it without him! He's a riot!"

"Now, children," a soft voice said. "Don't laugh at the Watcher because he doesn't know any better. Grandpa Giles didn't always know what was right."

Everyone looked over to see Willow standing at the doorway smiling. Jonathan recognized her immediately. "Willow Rosenberg."

"It's Miller now, Mr. Turner," she smiled. "Children, go in there with Graham, I need to talk to Jonathan."

Alyscia grinned, knowing her mother would talk sense into the man. "Come on, guys, let's go bug dad." They walked out of the room.

"Mrs. Miller, you don't seriously think that she will do better with children who can't defend themselves *and* two vampires, do you?"

Willow turned to him, a look of anger in her eyes. "Mr. Turner, those two vampires have saved our lives more times than I can count. And the *children* you refer to are a lot stronger than you give them credit for. I know damn well that the reason Buffy survived was because she had us. There was no way she could have done it alone. I am grateful for the fact that these *children* are willing to risk their lives to let my daughter have the same advantages Buffy had."

"But, Mrs. Miller, it is against Council policy --"

"I don't give a *damn* about Council policy. Council policy almost got both Buffy *and* Faith killed several times. Either you agree to her terms, or I can't be responsible for what she will do."

Jonathan stood his ground. "Your daughter can't turn her back on destiny."

"No," Willow said, "she can't. And she won't. I have taught my daughter better than that. But many many years ago, Buffy fired the Council, and if need be, my daughter will do the same."

Jonathan sighed. "Fine. The children can work with her. And as long as I don't have to work with the *vampires*, they can work too."

Willow laughed. "Glad to have your permission, even though it wasn't needed, seeing how it's my daughter's destiny, and not yours."

Jonathan frowned. "I should go." He handed her a slip of paper. "Here is my address. Ask the children to meet me there tomorrow at noon, so we can start training."

Willow smiled. "I will. Thank you, Mr. Turner, for seeing it our way." She saw Jonathan out the door.

The children burst into the living room. "Alright, mom! Way to show the stuffy Watcher!" Alyscia exclaimed.

"Mom will be proud," Jenny grinned.

"I think even Grandpop Giles will be too," Forrest chuckled.

Alex laughed. "Poor Grandpa. He's totally wiggin' over Aly being the Slayer."

"Yea," Willow grinned. "I know. You guys run in the kitchen, I got ice cream for all of you."

"Thanks!" they all yelled, running into the kitchen.

Willow walked to her husband Graham. She allowed him to wrap his arms around her and hug her tight. "Will, they are just kids..."

"We were just kids too, and we didn't have the benefit of a lot of adults who had been there. We made it up as we went along, and we all survived."

Graham smiled. "They are going to be alright, aren't they?"

"With Aly in charge? Of course. She is, after all, your daughter." She grinned at her husband.

"Naw," he said, kissing his wife softly. "She's *our* daughter." He kissed her again, this time letting the kiss grow into something deeper.

"Eww," Forrest shuddered from the door. "Parents kissing. Gag me."

Alyscia grinned. "Yea, I know. Especially mine." She glanced at her friends. "We can do this, you know."

"Of course we can," Alex smiled. "We, are, after all, the Slayer and the Slayerettes."

Alyscia Miller smiled to herself. < Maybe being Slayer girl isn't all that bad. >

END

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