A/N Warmest thanks to my beta AthenaHahn for her patience with me.

“Mother? What is she talking about?” Giles asked, looking bewildered.


“Well G-man it’s like this…” Xander started to say, but was cut off as Willow started talking over top of him.


“Whose mother?  Her mother?   Did Mrs. Summers hit her head or something?” Willow asked in a babbling manner.


“I’m here baby, everything is gonna be okay,” Buffy said soothingly as she darted to Joyce’s side, brushing Giles aside.  “Mother is here, you aren’t imagining things.”


“Oh Mother, you are here.  I’m so glad to see you.” Joyce sobbed as she collapsed into the arms of the woman she had called Mother all her life.


Buffy cradled Joyce in her arms, murmuring softly in her ear, as she gently stroked her hair.


Everyone looked on with mixed emotions.  Giles was completely flabbergasted.  Anya was amused and a little teary-eyed.  Xander was grinning from ear to ear at Giles’ expression.  And Willow and Tara looked on in astonishment. 


The only one who wasn’t watching Buffy and Joyce was Spike.  His supernatural hearing had picked up a noise from outside and he was trying to determine what had made the sound.


Suddenly from upstairs a piercing scream was heard. 


Spike, Buffy and Joyce all looked up at the same time and in unison said one word “Dawn.”


Before anyone else could react, both Spike and Buffy were up the stairs and into Dawn’s room.  What they saw made their respective tempers flare.


Reaching out with one slender hand, Buffy grabbed Angel around the throat and dragged him through the window where he had been peering into Dawn’s room.  “I thought I told you to leave,” she growled.


Spike wrapped his arms around Dawn and shifted into game face, growling loudly.  “Stupid wanker.  What in hell do you think you were doin’?”


A gurgling sound issued from Angel’s throat, but no words could be heard.  Buffy simply tightened her grip on Angel and dragged him out of the room and down the stairs, not caring if he walked, slid or thumped down.


“Seems we have ourselves a peeping tom.  Anyone want to field the question as to WHY he was peeping on Dawn?” Buffy asked with a high amount of irritation in her voice.


Joyce rose from the couch, her face an angry mask.  “I thought I told you to never show your face near my daughter again, Angel,” she said, then slapped him hard across the face.


“Again?” Buffy queried.  “He’s done this before then?”


Spike came down the stairs with Dawn following close behind him.  “He has a thing for young girls.  Always has, and always will.  Its one of the reason’s Joyce doesn’t like him.”


Turning her gaze on Angel, she arched one finely curved eyebrow.  “So, you like to spy on little girls in the privacy of their bedrooms.  There is a word for that.” Buffy stated.


Anya piped up, “Yes there is.  It’s pedophile.  I used to get a lot of vengeance wishes from young girls against their abusers.”


Tossing Anya a slight grin, Buffy remarked, “Well I think I can safely say that he won’t be getting any enjoyment from his activities tonight.”  She looked over at Dawn.  “Sweetie, can you bring my sword?  Time to show the moron what happens to those who try and hurt what’s mine.”


“What is she going to do, Joyce?” Giles asked quietly.


Joyce turned to Giles with a tight smile and said, “Teach him a lesson he won’t ever forget.”


“Xander, if you would be so kind as to open the door for me.  I don’t want this thing to bleed all over Joyce’s floor.” Buffy asked as she pulled Angel towards the door.


As Xander opened the door, Dawn hurried over with Buffy’s sheathed sword clenched in her hands.  “Hurt him real good, Buffy.  He gives me the creeps.”


“Don’t worry Dawnie.  He will know great pain before I’m through with him,” Buffy reassured the young girl.


Anya skipped over to Buffy’s side. “Need any help?”


Buffy looked at Anya and grinned. “I see you haven’t lost your taste for vengeance Anyanka, but I think perhaps if you helped Joyce keep the others from interfering…”  her voice trailed off as she glanced at the two young witches.


Spike stood off to one side, his vivid blue eyes intent on the scene being played out before him, a smirk twisting his lips as he took note of his grandsire’s wide eyes.  “I think you’re about to get your comeuppance, Peaches.”


Buffy shifted her grip on Angel’s throat without letting go and reached for the hilt of her sword with her right hand.  “Hold tight to the sheath Dawn, I don’t want to accidentally cut you.”  As she slid the ebon-bladed sword from its sheath, she turned her gaze on Angel.


Giles drew in a sharp breath when he caught sight of the sword and fixed his gaze onto the young woman known as Buffy.   His mind raced with numerous questions and unfettered curiosity.


Roughly maneuvering Angel backwards out the open door, Buffy placed the tip of her sword exactly 3 inches above his groin.  “I’d tell you that this was going to hurt me worse than it hurts you, but I’d be lying.”  The tip sliced easily through his pants and pricked his skin.  “This is for Dawn.  And if I EVER catch you near her again, I WILL show you the true meaning of the word pain.”


As soon as the words had left her mouth, Buffy let go of Angel’s throat and simultaneously shoved the sword into his body.  He let out a hoarse scream and staggered backwards, falling off the porch steps.  This had the effect of removing the blade from his flesh.


Joyce stepped forward and ordered him off her property.  “Get lost Angel.  Don’t EVER come here again.  I’m having Willow and Tara revoke your invitation to my house.  You have proven you can’t be trusted.”  She turned and went back into the house.


Spike grinned at the sight of Angel lying on the sidewalk, bleeding profusely from his wound.  “If it were up to me, Peaches, I woulda castrated you and made you eat it.”


Angel climbed painfully to his feet and staggered out of sight, muttering to himself about getting even with the blond bitch.


As Buffy turned back into the house, she smirked to herself.


Xander darted behind Anya and peered out at Buffy.  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but do you have a thing for damaging men’s parts?”


“Only those men who find it amusing or arousing to harm children,” Buffy stated as she calmly took the sheath from Dawn and slid the sword inside.  “Especially when the one they are hurting belongs to me.”


Joyce and Giles were standing off to one side, whispering together, and glancing over at Buffy every couple of seconds.


Spike said with a laugh, “I think its time you explained who and what you are, Luv, before the watcher’s curiosity makes him explode.”


With a grin, Buffy walked over to the high-backed armchair in the corner, and leaning her sword against the wall, took her seat as regally as any monarch.  “I think you are right, Spike.  Time to tell the tale of how Joyce became mine, and thus making Dawn mine as well.  Gather ‘round children, make yourselves comfortable, this will take a while.”