author: Lucinda
rating: Pg
pairing none.
Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from Buffy.  I do not own
any characters that you recognize.
Distribution: keep my name with it, and tell me where it goes to
live, and I will be happy.
Set in season 1 Buffy. Opa is supposed to be German for Grandpa.  I
was told that it was, I hope that's true.



     Willow slipped into her bedroom and flopped onto her bed.  She
wasn't looking forward to her history project.  Actually, she was
fairly certain the whle project was part of a plot on behalf of Mrs.
Cullen.  Her history teacher had a passion for geneology, the study
of family trees.  She had assigned all her students to trace their
family trees, and submit a report on them as the major project for
the grading period.  There had even been an informative handout on
where to look for the information and what she wanted them to have
in it.  Allegedly, it was to help them study the melting pot effect
of America on immegrants.

      Willow fully expected nothing pleasantly surprising from this
paper.  She knew that her great grandfather had emmigrated from
Germany, along with his wife and two of his children, one of which
had grown up to be her grandfather.  She wasn't certain of all the
details behind it because her mother had alwys shood her away when
her Opa Rosenberg had tried to talk about it at family reunions.
Something about she was too little to hear about things like that.

     Maybe she would have to talk to him about it when she made her
weekly visit to him in the nursing home.  He lived at Rustling Pines
Care Facility now, as his health wasn't good enough to allow him to
live alone.  He could barely walk, even with his cane, and had lost
most of his sight, and some of his hearing.  He was the only member
of Willow's family that was willing to let her be Willow, not a
statistic.



       Willow had started her notes allready.  She had her parents
names, along with the location and dates of their birth.  She had
the names of her mother's parents and two siblings, and her mother
had suggested that she call her aunt Diane to ask her some
questions, 'due to her interest in what everyone in the family is
doing and has ever done before'.  She had started ith a mostly blank
paper with a few names on it.  She was prepared with a list of
suggested questions and her aunt's phone number.  Approaching the
phone, Willow took a deep breath, and reminded herself 'First, it's
thirty percent of my grade this quarter. Second, Aunt Diane lives in
San Diego, she can't hurt me over the phone.  She's family, there is
no danger....'

    'Hello, can I talk to Diane Meyer please?" Willow almost managed
a steady voice when she called.  She was so nervous talking to
people.  She really had to work on that.

       Four hours later, she managed to convince her aunt Diane that
she really did have to get to bed, as this was a school night.  She
had pages and pages of things about her mother's side of the
family...names, birthdates and locations - sometimes accompanied
by 'there was an interesting story to that, reallly...'.  She had
the educational and romantic history of all her cousins from her
mom's side.  She had learned that her uncle David had been killed
ten years ago by 'a disgruntled gang member'.  Willow found herself
hoping that it had actually been a gang member and not a vampire.

     She had a cousin who had recently joined a law firm.  She had
another who was an accountant for an actor, and one of Diane's
daughters was now in college planning to be a psychologist, while
the other was simply dating some mechanic, to Diane's dismay.  She
now knew exactly how her mother's parents had died, more medical
details than she had ever wanted to know about dying from cancer,
and exactly where they had been buried and how the funeral services
had gone.

    Her head was spining from all the information.  Fortunately, she
had taken notes, lots and lots of notes.  Willow suspected that Aunt
Diane might have an interest in geneology too, she certainly had all
the information for it.  Diane had also mentioned that there was a
website with 'her family tree, and her husband's also, although his
mother did most of that one and it goes back to the seventeen
hundreds....' Willow had dutifully noted the web address.  Her ear
was overheated and numb.

     Trembling slightly with exhaustion, Willow changed into her
nightgown.  Willow was very grateful to just fall into bed and go
to sleep.  Staying up until midnight listening to somebody on the
phone was exhausting.  Her last waking thought was that at least she
would have some information beyond names and dates for her mother's
side of the family.




    By the time Thursday rolled around, Willow had come to the
conclusion that she could write this report.  She could write about
where her family had come from, and explain about their Jewish
heritage.  She was anticipating some unhappy events around World War
2, but unfortunately, that wsn't a surprise.

      Willow rose her bycicle over to Rustling Pines, where her great
grandfather now lived.  He was very old now, and his health was
gradually failing.  His mind was as clear as it had ever been.
Willow also knew that she was the only relative that visited him
regularly.  He saw some of the other relatives on the holidays, and
some of the older men from the temple visited him, but Willow still
thought it must be rather lonely for him.  That was one of the
reasons she visited him every Thursday.

     " Hello Willow.  Oris is sitting outside, by the oak tree.
please tell him he should have somebody help him inside at dinner
time, okay?" Eileen was the receptionist and secretary for this
shift.  She knew Willow by name, as did the rest of the staff.
Eileen also had the habit of referring to all the residents by their
names, which made some of the residents happy.

     Willow smiled at Eileeen and gave a little wave.  The door to
the little courtyard with the oak tree was a bit down the hall, and
she turned, and went to see her Opa Rosenberg.

     Oris Rosenberg was sitting on a slightly worn stone bench in the
shade of an enormous oak tree.  He wasn't a tall man, only a bit
taller than Willow if he was standing up strait.  His hair was
thining and white, and had receeded a bit along his temples.  He had
round wire rim glasses, and the lenses were very thick in an effort
to keep what he could of his fading sight.  He had been a slender
man in his youth, and was now frail.  A cane rested on the bench
beside him.

    He was delighted to see Willow, as always.  They talked a bit
about how their weeks had gone, and Willow learned that he suspected
Charlie, one of theother residents was cheating at the friday poker
games.  Willow mentioned that Xander was still clueless that she
liked him, and about her assigned project to make a family tree and
report.

      He had chuckled, and said that Sarah Cullen was one of the
nosey women who belonged to the county geneology society, and they
occasionnaly came around asking some of the residents about their
ancestors 'because your memories of them are irreplaacable.'  He
thought Willow's suspicion about trying to get her student's hooked
on geneology was very reasonable, and probably wouldn't have much
success.  He had also promised that he would talk about his
relatives after dinner - the ones your mother hasn't got a little
notebook on.  He found it somewhat amusing that Sheila kept trying
to analyze her relatives and put them into statistical categories.


***

     Willow was quite glad that she had brought some food with her.
Dinner as served at Rustling Pines looked bland.  It was probably
very easy on the digestion, and carefully planned to avoiid
allergies or reactions with medication in any of the residents.  It
looked about as appetizing as the food at her school cafeteria.  SHe
had also brought some fresh fruit in for her great grandfather.
Willow had cleared it with his doctor, so she knew that it would be
okay for him.

      He started with telling Willow about his grandfather, who had
been a furniture maker in Germany.  It had been the family business.
He told her the family sories about how his parents had met, and
eventually gotten married and started their own family.  He told her
how he had met his wife - the most tempermental and arguementive
girl he'd ever met.  The one young lady in town he couldn't stay
calm and polite when talking to.  He had eventually realized how
they felt about each other, and surendered.  They had been married
that fall.  What Willow found interesting was that he had pictures
of all the relatives he was talking about.

    They were sitting there, looking at the pictures in the heavy
leather bound photo album.  Willow turned the page, and saw a
picture of her great grandfather and his wife, along with three
small children.  A later family photo showed four children.  Willow
was thoughtful.  She knew her great grandpa and his wife had come to
America with three children.

      "Opa, who is that?" she pointed at the oldest child, a girl
with dark mostly straight hair and serious eyes.

      He looked thoughtful, and a bit sad.  He turned the page again,
and there was a picture of the girl, now grown up to maybe twenty, a
man slightly older beside her, and a small boy. " That was my
daughter Rachel.  This is her and her husband Frederick Lenscherr
and their son Eric.  They had quarreled with my Greta, your great
grandmother, and moved away.  I had tried to convince them to
reconcile, but they were both very stubborn women."

     "I had heard rumors about changes in policy in my old country.
I worried a great deal about what they could lead to, and that is
why Greta and I packed up what we could and came to America.  I wish
that Rachel and Frederick had done so as well.  I later learned that
their family had been sent to one of the camps.  Rachel and her
husband were killed there.  I never learned what happened to Erik.
He was just a little boy then...."  Her Opa's voice faded into
sorrowful reflection.

       Now Willow felt guilty for bringing up her Opa's past.  She
hadn't meant to make him sad.  She tried to help him feel a bit
better by talking about what had been going on at the temple.  He
was feeling somewhat better when Willow eventually left to go home.

     As Willow rode her bicycle home, she wondered.  What had
happened to little Eric Lenscherr?



        Willow had finished her report, including a diagram of her
direct ancestry and attached diagrams for cousins, a listing of
places of burial for her deceased relatives, and some copies of
photographs of her assorted relatives.  There were descriptions of
little family traditions that were Jewish, as well as things that
were German, and newer thiings from after her family had moved to
America.  She had gotten an A.

      Willow figured she could relax now, and only worry about things
demonic and life threatening needing researched with Mr. Giles.  She
could listen to Buffy talk about this mysterious guy named Angel,
and listen to Xander talk about how could he get Buffy.  That was
annoying, but slightly better than say, Cordelia or Harmony. Having
concluded that there was no life threatening demon menace, or
romantic changes in the lives of Xander or her new friend Buffy,
Willow at down to do her geometry homework.  To have some background
noise, as her parents had gone on some sort of couples retreat for
the week, she turned the television on to C-Span.

      She was hoping that whatever was on didn't feature that Senator
Robert Kelly.  He seemed to base his entire campaigning on anti
mutant speeches.  Willow did have to admit that sometimes mutants
did scary things, but.... weren't mutants still people?  Weren't
they still American citizens?  Therefore, they should be able to go
to school, get jobs and pay taxes.  Like everyone else, shouldn't
mutants be able to try to live a happy life? Although, she did
suppose that mutants should take responsibility for their actions.
being a mutant didn't make it okay to burn down someone's store, but
it didn't make it okay for somene else to burn down your house.

  Looking at the screen, Willow saw that it was live coverage of
the United Nations special conference to discuss the mutant
question.  It was being held at the base of the Statue of Liberty.
hmmmm Willow thought.  This might be interesting.  I wonder how
other countries are reacting to mutants.  It is a matter of genetic
mutation, so it should be occuring world wide...  Maybe I'll be a
doctor when I grow up, and study genentics.

    The discussion was interesting.  Willow had expected differing
views of what to do about mutants from the different nations'
representatives, and she wasn't dissapointed.  There were very
heated debates on some suggestions.  Willow observed that some
countries didn't seem worried about the increasing numbers of
mutants, having simply passed laws saying that mutants were
responsible for the uses of their powers as if it had been the works
of their hands.  She noticed a trend: countries that were not highly
dependant of manufacturing were more easily adapting their laws, if
not the behavior of all their citizens.  Countries with either large
industrial bases or huge populations were moving very slowly to do
something about the mutant issue.  While Willow didn't agree with
all the opinions spoken or shouted during the conference, it was
interesting to watch.  It stayed on long after her geometry was
finished.

      The conference was disrupted towards the end by a strange
silvery light that came from the torch of the Statue of Liberty.  It
wavered, and rippled almost like water, but it was...something
else.  Nobody seemed to know what it was.  Willow stayed up very
late trying to find out what had happend at the conference.



     Eventually, it was discovered that there had been a fight
between two groups of mutants.  Some security gaurds had been caught
in the middle, and most of them had been found dead, the sole
exception being found with stab wounds to the abdomen. Apparently,
the leader of one group had planned to use a complecated device to
do...something to the United Nations delegates, but he had been
stoped by another group of mutants.  The owner of the device had
been identified as Magneto, and had been taken into custody.  The
identities of his opponents was not known at this time. Willow made
the decision to watch for the trial of the mysterious Magneto.  It
should be..interesting.  She hoped C-Span would cover it.

       When the case came to trial, it was indeed covered by C-Span,
and many other stations as well.  C-Span was the only one that
showed the entirity of the trial instead of just little clips here
and there.  Magneto took the stand, bound in some sort of strange,
plastic restraints.  He looked different in normal clothing, old and
almost fragile.  The shirt he was wearing had long sleeves.  He
stated his name as Erik Magnus Lenscherr.

      Willow watched as much of the trial as she could, and was very
quiet during the whole procedings.  Xander never noticed.  Jesse
would have, but he had been killed by vampires recently.  She had a
lot to think about.  At least she could tell her Opa Rosenberg what
had happened to his grandson, little Erik.

   As a brighter note, Senator Kelly made the public statement that
he had changed his mind about his anti-mutant views, and had made an
official apology to mutants everywhere for his previous views.
Apparently, the events at the Statue of Liberty had shaken him a
great deal.  Willow was curious how America would react to the
mutant question now.