Title: Little Boy Lost 1/7
Author: Jadedragon
Email: blm55@bellsouth.net
Pairing: B/G
Rating: PG 13
Spoilers: Season 4. This takes place over the summer, before Season 5.
Disclaimer: Characters from BtVS are property of Joss, WB, UPN and Mutant Enemy. I'm just playing with them for a while.
Summary: Buffy finds Giles' son on the door step with a letter from his mother.
Feedback: Greatly appreciated.

Buffy was waiting for Giles to come back from grocery shopping as she started research on the latest `demon du jour' she had encountered the night before. It had been like nothing she had ever come up against and when she had reported to Giles after her patrol he had immediately called for a day of research. The others had been called and would be over about 10:30.

It was good to get back in to researching with Giles, she had missed this over the last year since the library had been destroyed and she had gotten so wrapped up in her `college life'. Buffy was glad Riley had called last week to say he wasn't returning to Sunnydale. She had drifted away from him when she realized that he had only been a substitute for the man she truly loved. Buffy knew that she couldn't continue her relationship with Riley when she loved someone else, even if who she loved didn't love her as she loved him. She stopped dreaming of what could never be and went back to her research hoping that she would have some information for Giles when he got back.

She was searching through another demon anthology when she heard someone at the door and went to open it. She noticed a taxi pulling away from the curb before she saw a sad little boy, who looked about seven, standing in front of her. He was dressed in a tweed schoolboy's uniform with short pants, looking much like she thought Giles would have looked like at that age. The child appeared to be doing everything he could not to cry.

"Hi, I'm Buffy, what's your name?" she asked him as she crouched down to talk to him on his level.

"Rupe Whitsonby," he said in a trembling voice.

"What are you doing here, Rupe?" she asked him.

"My aunt left me. I'm suppose to live with my daddy now," he told her, a single tear escaping from his over filled green eyes. "My mommy died and my aunt can't take care of me anymore. Do you know my daddy?" He asked in a trembling, scared voice.

"Who is your daddy?" Buffy asked already suspecting the answer when she heard his English accent.

"His name is Rupert Giles and Aunt Catherine said he lived here."

"I'm a friend of your daddy's, but he's gone right now. Let's get you in and then we'll decide what to do next," she told him as she led the scared little boy inside and got his luggage, placing it just inside the door. Buffy was furious at the thought of anyone leaving a small child alone in a strange country without even taking enough time to see if the person he was to see was home, the nerve of his aunt. Buffy quickly got control of her anger, not wanting to scare Rupe any more than he already was.

"When will my daddy be back?" he asked in a soft, scared voice.

"In an hour or so. I'm sure he'll be glad to see you." she tried to reassure the scared little boy.

"He..he doesn't know about me, Mummy never told him," he told her finally breaking into tears.

"Shh, Rupe," she said as she took the scared little boy into her arms. Buffy stroked his hair trying to reassure him that everything would be okay. When he quieted, she asked, "Are you hungry?"

"A little," he told her in a quite voice.

Buffy took him into the kitchen and fixed him a sandwich and a glass of milk, and sat at the dining room table with him while he ate. As she watched him she saw how hard he was trying to keep from crying and to stay awake.

"You look so tired, would you like to lie down until your daddy gets home?"

"Yes, that would be nice. Would you give this to my daddy? Aunt Catherine said it would explain everything," he told Buffy as he handed her a letter addressed to Giles. She set it on the kitchen table and then turned to Rupe.

"I'll be glad to. Let's get you upstairs and to bed." Buffy took his luggage upstairs and helped him get comfortable in Giles' bed. He was asleep within five minutes; he had been totally exhausted.

Buffy went downstairs and cleaned up the kitchen. Giles had a son and he didn't even know it. She couldn't imagine Giles not being part of Little Rupert's life if he had known. He was not a man who would ignore his child, this she knew. She teased him and joked at his expense all the time, but she knew that he was a loving and giving man and she loved him very much. She continued to tease him to keep her distance, he only thought of her as a daughter and that was all their relationship would ever be. She had accepted that even though she wanted more, so very much more. How would he take this? She noticed the letter wasn't sealed and wondered if she should read it before Giles returned. She was still debating this when she heard him enter the apartment.

"Buffy?" Giles called as he set the groceries down.

"Giles, I'm in the kitchen." she told him as she picked up the letter to take to him.

"Here, you better sit down and read this before you do anything else," she told him as she handed him the letter Rupe had given her.

Giles took the envelope addressed to him. He saw no postmark or return address and the flap was just folded down and tucked into the envelope. He looked at Buffy as he opened the envelope taking a single page out and started reading the letter as he sat down on the couch.

July 20, 2000

My Dearest Rupert,

I had wanted to tell you this in person but I've been very ill and was not able to come to you. I never meant to hurt you. I did truly love you and wanted to be with you. I just couldn't handle being second in your life nor the dangers that you faced. It was hard enough to watch you go out at night, not knowing if you would be coming back, but knowing that you would be assigned a Slayer, was more than I could handle. I admit, I was selfish. I wanted you all to myself, I didn't want to share the wonderful man I had come to love with anyone, not even with his job. I knew with your dedication and the relatively short life most Slayers have, I would have been second in your life when she was there. I, also, knew the relationship that can develop between Watchers and Slayers, the bond that they can share is so very special, more than I could ever have had with you. I am sorry that I hurt you; I know that you needed me, but I couldn't live with you and share you with her. I'm sure that she is a wonderful young woman and you will make her a great Slayer, that is the man that you are.

But the reason I'm writing this, as you know, is Rupert, our son. I can't take care of him any more and I am asking you to. I never told you because I knew that you would have done your best to talk me into marrying you, and I don't think I could have held out. Please forgive me, Rupert. I had planned to come and tell you when our son was three, but you had already left for the States and assignment with your Slayer.

Don't doubt that I loved you. I was never happier than the time we spent together. I can die in peace, knowing I have been loved by a wonderful man. Yes, I am dead as you read this. I was diagnosed with bone cancer over a year ago and that is why I had Catherine bring Rupert to you. He is a very sensitive child, very inquisitive and intelligent, just like his dad. Please take good care of him.

There are some legal papers in Rupert's luggage. Please contact Henry Summers of the Firm of Laytham, Summers, Brice and Holston in Los Angeles. I have been in contact with him over the last nine months, arranging my affairs. I have left everything to Rupert with you as his guardian.

Please take time to get to know him. He has been very lost and alone the last three months, as I have been in the hospital more and not with him as much as I wanted. He is so much like you, I feel that I got to know you as a child.

There's not much else to say. I hope you and he will get along together. He knows that I didn't marry you because I couldn't handle your work. I have explained some about it and he understands as much as he can. Be patient with him, my love, he is my greatest treasure.

Love always,

Rebecca

Tears were making their way down Giles' face as he handed the letter to Buffy. He sat on the couch in shock as she quickly read over it, surprised to see her father's name as Little Rupert's attorney. She looked at Giles and realized that he was in shock.

"Giles?" she tried to get his attention, but he was deep in his own thoughts.

"Giles!" she called again, this time touching his arm and slightly shaking it.

"Buffy?" he answered shock and surprise still on his face.

"Are you all right?"

"I-I don't know."

"Do you want to talk?"

"Buffy, I do need to talk, but later, right now I want to meet my son, where is he?"

"He's upstairs asleep. He was so tired and scared. I fixed him a sandwich and let him lie down on your bed. Giles, she just left him without knowing if anyone was here. The taxi was pulling away from the curb when I answered the door." Buffy told him the anger in her voice clear.

"What?"

"His aunt just left him. She didn't check to see if you or anyone was here. He was almost in tears when I went to the door." Buffy told him, concern for his son in her eyes and voice.

Giles sat stunned even more than he had been. He didn't remember Catherine being so callous. "She just...left him?"

"Yes"

"and he's upstairs?"

Buffy nodded.

"Will you go with me?" Giles asked in an uncertain voice.

"Sure." she told him as she took his hand and led him upstairs to meet his son.

Little Rupert was sound asleep, curled up very tightly. Tears streamed down his face in his sleep. He looked so sad and alone. "Mummy, don't leave me!" he cried in his sleep. Giles sat by his son and gently took him in his arms, holding him, reassuring him. The little boy woke up in Giles' arms and looked into the man's eyes.

"Are you my daddy?" he asked in a small scared voice.

"Yes." Giles told him as he hugged him close, crying himself.

Buffy left father and son together, feeling that she was not needed. As she got to the bottom of the stairs, there was a knock on the door. It was Willow and Tara for the research session that had been planned.

Giles looked at the small boy in his arms. His son. He never thought to have a child, and yet, Rebecca had given him a son he had not known about until a few minutes ago. He felt such love, felt that an emptiness, he had not known was there, had been filled. He was no longer so alone in the world. He looked into his son's face and saw a younger version of himself looking back. Rupe would have the childhood that Giles had never had. He would not spend his after school time studying as his father had been forced to do. His son would make his own decisions on what he wanted to do with his life as he grew older.

Little Rupert looked into the eyes of the man who held him, when he saw tears he asked, "Why are you crying?"

"I never thought to have a child, and I'm sad that your mum is gone." Giles told him truthfully.

"I miss me mum. I wanted to stay with Aunt Catherine, but she just left me..." he started crying again.

Giles held his son closely as he cried. "Shh... it will be alright. You're here and I'll keep you safe." he told him as he stroked his hair and comforted him.

"What about the vampires?" he asked in a shaky voice.

"They can't come into this house. Just how much did your mum tell you about what I do?"

"She told me you were a Watcher and fought vampires and demons. She said that you trained the Slayer to kill them. Mum told me that you had studied all your life to be a Watcher and I would be one, too."

"Rupert, you will be a Watcher only if you really want to. I will not force you to be something you don't want to be. I was forced to be a Watcher, never given a choice. You can choose to be whatever you want. You don't have to be a Watcher. I will stand behind any choice that you make. This I promise you." Giles told his son.

"Oh. Mum said that I was destined to be a Watcher."

"Only if you truly want to be. I wanted to be a fighter pilot or a grocer when I was your age." he told the small child.

"You didn't want to be a Watcher?"

"No, I wanted to play with the other kids, but it was not allowed. I had to study all the time and never had friends my own age until I was at university. Your mum mentioned some legal papers in your luggage. Can you get them for me?"

Rupert went and opened the larger of his two suitcases and pulled out a thick manila envelope and handed it to Giles.

"Daddy, who is Buffy?" his son asked in a quiet voice.

"Buffy is my friend, she is also the Slayer."

"She's nice. She fixed me a sandwich and let me get some sleep."

"Yes, she is." Giles agreed with him. "Why don't you try to get some more rest and I'll take care of this." he told him as he held up the manila folder.

"OK. Can I stay here with you?"

"Of course, unless you want to stay with someone else?" Giles said, giving his son the choice, though it would break his heart to have to let go of him.

"I guess, I don't know where else I could go. Uncle David didn't want me and said I had to come here."

"Don't worry about anything. You are here and will stay here as long as you want to." Giles told him as he hugged him again and laid him back down. So that explained why Catherine just left him, her husband David, Rebecca's brother, had never liked Giles' relationship with his sister. Before he went down to join Buffy and make some phone calls, Giles took one last look toward the bed where his son was lying. A son, he had a son.

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