Okay... enough of this waiting around crap. I am tired of feeling like I am just stringing you all along.
So, in an effort to appease the many, many emails I have been getting, as well as my own conscious... here is a little "min-post" of good will to let you all know that I am really working on this fic.
When we last left our heroes Ms. Henckle tried to weasel info out of Emily, causing our fave 8-yr old to mentally call for her mommy's help. W/T sent Buffy to get Em from school. Luckily, Counselor Geary had rescued the girl from her teacher just in time. Ghaena and Morrigan discovered that Ms Henckle is not Le Fay. And everyone is now at Xander's house to discuss what to do next.
And now... the little itty-bitty post:
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Willow sat in the corner of Xander and Anya’s living room, Michelle tucked in her arms, quietly nursing, while the rest of the room had erupted into a flurry of activity. Tara had arrived with Dawn and Michelle about twenty minutes earlier, quickly followed by the arrival of Ghaena and everyone had swiftly fallen into argument over what to do next.
“I don’t see what’s so crazy about pulling Emily out of school”, said Xander. “It’s not like she’s safe there, and it’s not like she doesn’t have two of the smartest parents on the planet to home-school her.”
“Because it would be too obvious to Le Fay that we were on to her”, countered Buffy.
“And what is wrong with that?” asked Xander. “Why is it so bad that Le Fay knows we know what she is up to?”
“This way we have a better chance of catching Ms. Henckle unaware”, the slayer explained.
“That’s a perfectly good theory”, agreed Ghaena, “That is it would be if Ms. Henckle were in fact Le Fay.”
“You mean she’s not?” said Tara, turning to face the priestess.
“That’s correct”, stated the brunette.
“Then who is?” asked Buffy, “Do you know?”
“I’m afraid not. Suffice it to say that it is not Emily’s teacher.”
“I don’t understand how she can’t be”, commented Tara. “I mean, she scared Emily so badly that she cried out to me with her mind. That’s never happened before.” She looked the priestess right in the eye. “If you could have felt how terrified she was… I never want her to be that afraid again.”
“I wish I could promise you that she won’t be”, said Ghaena, her head bowed low. “But I cannot. I don’t doubt that it was Le Fay’s influence that caused the incident today. I believe that Ms. Henckle may be under the witch’s employ. It’s obvious that Morgan has sensed how powerful your daughter is becoming and is looking to take advantage of that fact. I fear that I would not be wrong to say that what happened today, is only the beginning.”
*****
In Joseph’s small bedroom, the young boy watched his best friend make no attempt to stifle the streams of silent tears pouring over her cherubic face. Emily had not stopped crying since the argument in the living room had begun. Joe’s room was right next door to it, and Emily could easily hear everything that was being said about her and her teacher.
It was times like this that Joseph really hated not being able to hear what was going on around them. He knew there was some sort of fight going on in the next room because he could feel the floor beat with pacing footsteps. Occasionally, he would place his hand on the wall and he could make out the bass and treble vibrations of varying volume levels of voices coming through the sheet rock. Yet still he had no idea what the argument was about. And even if he could hear it, he knew that he probably wouldn’t understand it. Big people tended to use big words with even bigger meanings and although he knew a lot for a boy his age, there was still a lot for him to learn. And he knew it.
Finally, he couldn’t stand to watch Emily cry any longer, so he went over and tapped her lightly on the shoulder.
She shook her head at him. She wanted to be alone.
Joseph wasn’t in the mood to take “No” for an answer. He tapped her shoulder again.
Emily looked up at him angrily signing, ‘Go!’ before drawing her knees up to her chest so that her body became a tight ball.
The little boy’s face took on as angry a scowl has he could muster and he put his two small hands on her knees, trying to push them back down. Emily firmly resisted, trying to ignore the annoying activity. This only caused Joseph to grow even more frustrated and he found himself climbing up to sit on top of the girl’s knees, bouncing hard enough on them to finally forced them down onto the floor, Emily’s legs now in a straight line in front of her which Joseph atop them.
Emily now tried to push the boy off of her, but Joseph somehow found it in himself to resist her older-kid sized strength. He made several attempts to lean forward against her, but she kept holding him back. Finally, he sat back on his haunches, still over her legs, and stared at her a long moment before swiftly reaching in and pinching her side hard.
“Ow!” she shouted out, the action catching her off-guard long enough for Joseph to dive forward and wrap his small arms around her in a tight hug, staying there.
Emily stayed still. She wanted to be angry at him for pinching her and not leaving her alone. But she just couldn’t hold her anger for very long. Especially with him hugging her so tightly. Because she knew that, in his own way, Joseph was trying to make it impossible for her to feel bad. She knew that there was no way that he could know what was going on, or that she had figured out that it was all somehow her fault.
As if reading her mind, Joseph sat up a little and looked his friend in the eye, slowly signing, so that the words held more emphasis, ‘Not you.’
Emily nodded sadly, raising her hands between them. ‘Yes it is.’
Joseph shook his little head in disagreement. ‘No. Big people fight. It is not you.’
‘It’s me they are fighting about’, Emily explained.
‘Did you break a rule?’ he asked.
‘No.’
‘Then how can it be your fault?’ He queried, ‘If you didn’t do anything bad?’
Emily smiled weakly. ‘You don’t understand’, she signed, ‘You’re too little.’
Joseph raised his little chin defiantly. ‘So are you’, he countered, and dove back in to hug his friend again.
This time, she hugged him back.
*****
TBC...
"Promise me you'll never be linear." "On my trout."
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I hope you feel better soon, and I will definitely concentrate on sending some good vibes your way! Take care. 
and lots of 
That sucks, big time. Damn computers!! 
at: 12/1/02 12:28:27 am
Once again a great update, will wait patiently for the next.
. I hope that you enjoy the rest of the story.