'Bad Eggs' Story Code '4V07' by David Greenwalt

After battling with a cowboy vampire named Lyle Gorch Buffy becomes distracted, causing her mother to misinterpret her actions as a lack of responsibility. The next day at school, Buffy and her classmates are given a parenting assignment: each is given an egg to look after and told to treat it as if it were a child. That evening, Buffy unsuccessfully hunts for Lyle Gorch and his brother; exhausted, she returns home and falls asleep - and a strange tentacle emerges from her egg and attaches itself to her face. The next day, both Buffy and Willow seem unusually sluggish, while Xander reveals that he hard-boiled his egg to prevent it from breaking. Later that night, while out on patrol with Angel, Buffy admits that the school project is making her think about her future, which she wants Angel to be a part of. When Buffy returns home, she sees her egg twitching; it suddenly it breaks open, and a small, purple insect-like creature springs out; it attacks her, but she is able to impale it with a pair of scissors. The following morning, Xander is about to eat his hard-boiled egg, when he is stopped by Buffy, who plans to analyse its contents. However, Willow and Cordelia knock Buffy and Xander out and trap them inside a closet; they join a procession of other possessed students, take up shovels and picks and then head through a hole in the wall of the school basement. Meanwhile, Joyce arrives at the library to collect Buffy, but instead finds Giles, who places one of the hatchling creatures on her neck; the two of them join the others in the basement, helping to unearth a pre-prehistoric parasite known as the Mother Bezoar,. Buffy recovers and begins searching for a weapon, but is promptly attacked by Lyle and Tector Gorch. When the Mother Bezoar eats Tector, Lyle blames Buffy for the death of his brother; he throws the Slayer to the ground, where she is pulled into the pit by the Mother. But a few seconds later a triumphant Buffy emerges from the pit, and the death of the giant creature causes the others to snap out of their trances; Giles covers by informing everyone that their strange behaviour was due to inhaling fumes from a gas leak. Back at Buffy’s house, Joyce confines her daughter to her room, but that doesn't stop her from seeing Angel - with a little help from a stepladder…

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Nicholas Brendon (Xander Harris), Alyson Hannigan (Willow Rosenberg), Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase), David Boreanaz (Angel), Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles), Kristine Sutherland (Joyce Summers), Jeremy Ratchford (Lyle Gorch), James Parks (Tector Gorch), Rick Zieff (Mr. Whitmore), Danny Strong (Jonathan), Brie McCaddin (Cute girl), Eric Whitmore (Night Watchman)
Directed by Scott Brazil

TX (US): 12th January 1998
TX (UK - Sky One): 13th June 1998
TX (UK - BBC 2): 16th December 1999

Notes:
*Featuring Buffy, Xander, Willow, Giles, Cordelia and Angel