family (idea)

Willow and Tara are being cute in Willow's dorm room. It's nice to see that they actually have a relationship. Willow spends so much time talking about how she's "gay now", but Willow and Tara don't snuggle nearly as much as Buffy and Riley, or Xander and Anya.. But, I digress.. Tara mentions that she is practicing her witchcraft so that she can be more useful to the gang.

Buffy tells Giles about Dawn being the Key. They decide to keep Dawn's identity a secret from everyone else, and do their best to keep her safe.

Later on, everyone is helping move Buffy out of her dorm room. She's moving back home to help out now that her mom is sick. While Tara goes to take a box to the car, Willow reminds everyone to be at The Bronze at 8:00 tomorrow night, for Tara's birthday party.

Ben the hospital intern is changing in a locker room, when some very large and gross demon starts skulking towards him. Suddenly, Evil Blonde Girl puts her hand over the demon's mouth and tells it she needs a favor.

Back at the magic shop, Buffy and Xander complain about not knowing what to buy Tara for her birthday. There is a very disturbing clip of Spike fantasizing about fighting with Buffy, while actually in bed with Harmony. Well, whatever punches his buttons.... A large guy with a Southern accent comes into the magic shop and says vaguely insulting things about the books. Then, Tara comes in and it turns out that he is her older brother. The rest of Tara's family, her father and a female cousin, come in and are introduced. They leave abrubtly, after telling Tara they will meet her for dinner.

At her house, Buffy tries to keep Dawn from going out, but since she can't tell her the truth, fails miserably. Then, Buffy and Riley argue some more about Buffy not letting Riley in on her inner thoughts and feelings.

Tara comes back to her room to find her father going through her stuff. He yells at her for being open about her Wicca activities. He mentions something ominous having to do with Tara's upcoming 20th birthday, and asks her if she's told her friends the truth about herself. Eventually, he informs Tara she will be coming home with her family. Hmm.. Apparently, Tara has a big secret, and her dad is a super-creepy, control-freak.

Evil Blonde Girl directs the gross demon to find Buffy and kill her. Well, this is new.... not..

Tara sneaks in on the gang at the magic shop and casts some sort of spell on them.

Riley is at a bar, when a female vampire comes on to him. He turns her down. Harmony tells Spike about the demon that was recruited to kill Buffy. He hurries off, under the pretext of "watching the Slayer die".

Tara's cousin confronts Tara, who tells her that she's not coming home. Her cousin figures out about the spell, which Tara explains is to keep her friends from seeing her "demon part". Her cousin threatens to tell her father.

At the magic shop, a whole bunch of demons knock on the door. Willow answers, but doesn't see them, and closes the door in their faces. Eventually, the demons come in, and start attacking. Unfortunately, Tara's spell has rendered them invisible, so the gang is having trouble fighting back. Spike comes to help, and kills one of the demons, but he, too, is invisible to the gang, being part-demon.

At this point, Tara comes back and breaks the spell. Buffy finishes off the rest of the demons, but then Tara's family comes in. Tara's father explains that the women in Tara's family are part demon, and that Tara has to come home. There is a good deal of arguing, and eventually, Buffy puts her foot down. Spike settles the question by punching Tara in the nose. Since he immediately doubles over in pain, it is clear that Tara is not a demon. The whole story was a family legend created to keep the women in line.