Title: Unforeseen Circumstances 8/27
Author: Jadedragon
Rating: R
Spoilers: Season 4 up until Bad Beer, Angel Season 1, in my verse, Doyle didn't die!
Paring: B/G, B/P mentioned
Summary: Buffy has to face the consequences of her night with Parker
Notes: <> denotes thoughts
Thanks: To Wyrmbath for such a quick and through beta. Great work, Wyrmie!
Timothy looked in disbelief at his cousin and the young woman standing by his side, who he guessed must be the former Slayer. They stood in the center of the room with a Seer and a man who appeared to be a Native American. But Rupert and Buffy were dead; a new Slayer had been called.
"Rupert?" Timothy asked as he slowly approached the man he had admired for so many years.
"Timothy, it's good to see you," Giles began as he reached to hug his cousin.
"Is this Buffy?" Colin asked in disbelief.
Giles turned to the man he didn't know but before he could introduce himself and Buffy the man continued in an irate tone of voice.
"She's not dead! Why was Ria called?" Colin asked in a rage. "Why was my daughter called while the Slayer was still alive?"
During his rant, Willow, Xander, Wesley and Timothy had gathered around Buffy and Giles. Tara stood to one side with Ria while the Seer and Black Raven continued standing where they had materialized.
"Colin, I know my cousin, Let's sit down and he can explain what's happened," Timothy tried to calm down the irate man.
"Calm down! Calm down he says when my daughter has been handed a death sentence?"
"Dad," Ria began as she reached her father's side. "Please, calm down. Let's listen to what they have to say. I'm the Slayer, but maybe I don't have to die, if she didn't."
Colin looked at his daughter and allowed her to guide him to a seat at the table where they had been researching and sat beside her.
Timothy and Giles conducted introductions as everyone sat down at the table, everyone except the Seer who stood to one side of the table. Once everyone was seated, Giles and Wesley started explaining to Timothy, Ria and Colin about how a second slayer was called, but before they could get to the reason for her calling, Colin interrupted again.
"So you call a new Slayer to get away from it?" Colin accused Buffy.
"There were mitigating circumstances, you…." Giles started, defending Buffy.
"What circumstances? She was tired of fighting demons?" Colin ranted.
"Dad, calm down. Let's listen to what they have to say," Ria told him as she stroked his arm. She hated to see him like this. Her Dad didn't act this way very often and she was usually able to calm him, but she knew that he felt she was threatened and wanted to protect her.
"I'm sorry. I see red when I feel that one of my children are threatened and I don't understand why that spell was cast." Colin apologized to the group.
"Because I'm pregnant, and I want my child," Buffy told him hoping that he would understand her need to protect her unborn child. "And there is a prophecy that this child will somehow change the Council."
"The changes have already begun and will continue," the Seer added to the conversation. "Now, the lines are clearly drawn. Travers and his followers will be here in three days to attempt to take the Slayer. If he succeeds, The Council will be returned to what it was before Buffy became pregnant. There is a force of evil which wants the Council and all Slayers destroyed."
The room was quiet as the Seer related this information. He had verified that Travers would try to kidnap Ria and had informed them of an evil that had not been mentioned before.
"What sort of Evil?" Wesley, Giles, and Timothy all asked at the same time?
"Originally, he was a Council Mage. But over the years, he was not promoted and began feeling that he had been looked over in favor of his younger brother. When the younger brother was promoted to Senior Mage he broke with the Council, and decided to seek his revenge by destroying it. He spent decades plotting and about three hundred years ago approached Travers' ancestor and began the changes within the Council. These changes led to the way Slayers were treated before Buffy was called. A new Chairman was elected a year later and only recently it was discovered that Travers' had discounted the Ruling Council's changes in policy."
"What changes in policy?" Giles asked, in confusion.
"Changes that Travers made sure that you didn't know about," the Seer informed him. "Rupert, the Cruciamentum was never reinstated as Travers' led you to believe. Many changes have been made and most are based on the efforts of you and Buffy. Your teamwork with the help of your friends changed the views of many in the Council, especially the Ruling Council and the Chairman."
"The Chairman?" Giles asked in disbelief.
"Yes, he is very proud of your accomplishments here on the Hellmouth with Buffy," the Seer assured him.
"But how would you know?" he continued to question the Seer before him.
"Because I am the Senior Mage for the Council," he informed them.
Everyone in the room looked at the Seer wondering the same thing, could he be trusted. Why didn't he tell us what was happening and who he was? They all thought.
"Let me explain. My brother is very powerful and has other powerful dark mages helping him. When he managed to restructure the Council, he cast powerful spells preventing disruption of his plans. It was only after Buffy was called that these spells began to dissipate minutely. Once this began, I was able to once again see what had been done and begin to heal the damage." The Seer went to stand beside Buffy. "Changes slowly started happening. Members began to see the true purpose of the Council, again, and changes were made accordingly. Then, once your child was conceived, the prophecy further dropped the veil that my brother had cast over the Council and the motions forecast began to take place. I was released from the `stasis of non-action' placed on me by him and was able to actively help."
"That would make you over 300 years old!" Ria stated in confusion.
"Mages belong to a different species than we do, Ria," Timothy informed her. "Their life-spans are virtually limitless. The magick, that is a natural part of them, sustains their life force indefinitely. The older a mage, the stronger his magick"
"And my brother's magick quite strong, but he can be defeated," the Senior Mage assured them. "You must contact Angel and have them come to Sunnydale as soon as possible. We will need their help. I must return to the Council," with that statement, he disappeared in the same bright light that he had appeared in, only this time leaving by himself.
"There is much to be accomplished before he returns," Black Raven broke the silence that had occurred after the Senior Mage's departure. "We must contact Angel and his people, and anyone else who you would protect. We then must cast protection spells over this building to protect it from the Black Seer."
"How do you know what to do?" Giles asked the medicine man.
"The Senior Mage told me before we left my home. He felt that since I was not connected with the Council, it would be safer to tell me what needed to be done," he explained.
As he began to explain what needed to be researched and done, Wesley went to call Angel, Buffy called her Mom and Xander called Anya. Joyce and Anya were there within twenty minutes and they expected Angel and his crew in about two hours.
**********
As soon as Joyce arrived she found her daughter and hugged her tightly. Both were in tears as they reunited. Buffy soon pulled Joyce to one side, nodding to Giles to join them.
"Buffy, have you seen a doctor?" Joyce questioned.
"Yes, mom. I'm fine and so is the baby," she assured her mother.
"I still say that Parker needs to take responsibility for this child!" Joyce continued. "A child needs a father!"
"He will have a father," Buffy told her, deciding to go ahead and tell her about the engagement.
"What do you mean?" she asked wondering why Rupert was standing so close to Buffy.
"Mom, Rupert and I are getting married. He will be my child's father," she finished, waiting for the fireworks.
"What? You are the real father? How dare you!" Joyce began, her voice rising with each statement."
"No, Mom, this child is not Giles'…."
"How long? How long have you been screwing my daughter?" she ranted at Rupert as she pushed Buffy out of the way."
"Joyce, you're making a scene!" Rupert tried to calm down enraged woman.
"You think this is a scene?" she asked as she slapped her daughter's Watcher.
Buffy reached out and forcibly turned her mother to face her. "Rupert is not this child's biological father, though I wish he were. I love him and he loves me. If you can't accept that, it's your problem. You can leave at any time. I just wanted you to be happy for me!" Buffy broke down, tears beginning to flow from her eyes as she ran from the room.
"Joyce, I love your daughter very deeply and I have never, as you put it, `screwed' her, I have however, made love to her. Now I must go and see if I can comfort her," he told her with his Ripper glare, as he left to try and comfort the woman he would marry.
**********
As Smyth and McTavish awoke from the dazed state they had been placed in, they noticed a Council Mage sitting with them. The Mage explained what had happened and that Travers would think they were still under the Dark Seer's spell.
They made plans and the Mage quickly left to return to the Chairman to report his mission had been accomplished before returning to continue to watch Travers.
**********
Joyce then looked around as everyone stared at her. Once she realized what she had done and said, she walked toward the entrance only to be stopped by Colin.
"Joyce, you look like you need someone to talk to," he stated. When she silently nodded, he led her to the dojo next door and to his office. They sat in silence for several minutes before she began.
"I made a fool of myself."
"I think you were shocked and wanted to protect your daughter," Colin said with understanding. "Joyce, you weren't here earlier when I made a fool of myself, trying to protect Ria."
"You, you always seem so calm," she stated in disbelief.
"Normally I am, but if I feel one of my children is threatened, I see red. Then I say and do things that have been quite embarrassing. I understand where you're coming from," he assured her. "Have you ever read any of Rupert's journals about Buffy?"
"No. Why?"
"When Timothy came to tell us about Ria being called, he brought Rupert's journals of Buffy's life as the active Slayer. It's amazing what they have been through together and survived. There are several times where it appeared that each would have given their life for the other. Joyce, Rupert seems to truly love your daughter and from what I read, it appears that he has loved her for a long time."
"How long have they been having an affair?"
"I don't know, but I would hazard a guess that it started just recently," he told her as he reached down to open a drawer in the bottom of his desk, retrieving Rupert's journals. "Why don't you read the journals that he has written and see how you feel about their relationship then." Colin handed the journals to Joyce as he left her alone to read.
**********
"Luv, are you all right?" Giles asked as he joined her in the back room.
"I guess so. I just wish she would be happy for me," she sobbed.
"I was a shock for her," he tried to comfort his love.
"But, every time something important happens in my life, she objects on some level!" she cried.
"I'm sorry. Maybe we should wait," he suggested.
"No, I don't want to wait. I want to be with you. She'll just have to accept that you will be my husband!" she stated emphatically, as she dried her eyes. "Don't they need our help with the research?"
"Probably, but are you ready to join them?"
"Yes, the sooner we defeat Travers and his dark seer, the sooner we can get married, whether or not Mom agrees!"
They returned to the main room a little while later to help with the research. Buffy and Giles were both feeling more relaxed as they helped find the information that was needed.
**********
When Joyce finished reading the journals, she left quietly, locking the door of the dojo behind her. As she had read what had happened in her daughter's life, she was amazed. Rupert had stood beside Buffy no matter what. He had stood beside her daughter when she had not. She saw, as she read, the growing love he felt for Buffy. Joyce still wasn't very comfortable with the relationship between the two of them, but Buffy was of age and seemed to have her mind made up.
Joyce would have to give the matter more thought and look at it again in the morning, when she could think more clearly.
**********
Ria looked watched as Buffy and Giles helped research the spells that Black Raven had them looking for. It was as if they were part of the same person, they finished each other's sentences and reached for the same book at the same time, as if reading the other's mind. They worked together as if they had been doing so all of their lives. They were each part of one whole she soon decided - soul mates.
Ria was a little jealous, she had never dated, most of the boys her age were morons, who only thought on one thing, sex. She had been more concerned with her schoolwork and getting into college. She wanted to be the first woman in her family to finish college. Her mom had quit when she discovered she was expecting Morgan and had never returned. She saw Buffy get up and walk toward the bathroom and got up to follow. This might be a chance for her to have a talk with her predecessor.
"Buffy, can we talk?" she asked as she approached the former Slayer.
"Just let me pee first," Buffy replied as she quickly opened the door to the bathroom and disappeared inside. When she came out a few moments later she looked at Ria, "That's better. I have to go all the time now. What did you want to talk about?"
"I didn't want you to be upset with my Dad. He just gets overprotective at times," she told her.
"Hey, I totally understand. My Mom's the same way. You saw how she reacted when I told her that I was going to marry Giles."
"Do you really love him?"
Buffy got a dreamy look in her eyes before she answered the new Slayer. "I don't know why I didn't see how I felt sooner. I have been looking for Giles all my life. I don't mean Giles the person, but what he represents. He's everything I could ever want in a man, and then that much more. I've never been as sure of anything, as I am of my love for Rupert."
"You're lucky. I wish I could find someone. I've never even dated. The guys, back in Salem were only interested in how fast they could get a girl into bed with them."
"That's what Parker was," Buffy told the new slayer in disgust.
"Parker?"
"Parker was a guy I dated the first of the year when I was enrolled at UCS. He told me everything I wanted to hear and once he got me into his bed, he dropped me. It's his child that I'm carrying."
"It's not Giles?" Ria asked in shock.
"No, but Rupert will accept it as his own and help me raise it."
Ria was shocked until she remembered the prophecy that Wesley told them about. "He accepts the child as his own!"
"Yes, part of the prophecy."
"Does it bother you that he is so much older than you?"
"Honestly, no. I admit when I first met him I teased him about his age, but as I got to know the man behind the tweed, the age difference seemed to vanish. He was my partner, my mentor, my friend, and now, my lover. And I couldn't image living without him in my life. Let's get back and find this information so we can kick some Travers butt!"
The two Slayers headed back to the main room, rejoining the group search, each knowing the other a little better.
**********
The Chairman sat at his desk, expecting the Senior Mage at any moment. He had forwarded the requested book list to the Council Librarian and expected the volumes to be delivered shortly. So many of the books requested had long since been lost and he didn't know if their plan could succeed without the knowledge held in them. He was still thinking about how he might be able to compensate for the loss of that knowledge when the Senior Mage appeared before him.
"It is all set in motion," the Senior Mage informed him.
"They are searching for the protection spells?"
"Yes. I must get back shortly with the volumes I asked you to have pulled to complete the research."
"Don't you know where the spells are that you'll need?" the Chairman asked in concern.
"I know where they should be found, but if I had the complete knowledge of the existence of the books and exactly where the spells were, my brother could have taken the information from my mind. That is why I had Black Raven to start the research and will have him and the others complete it. What I don't know, can't be taken from me." he assured the Chairman.
The Chairman nodded, understanding the precautions the Mage had made. He knew all too well how unscrupulous the Dark Seer was. The Senior Mage and those associated with the Council would never think of invading the privacy of another's mind, but the Dark Seer had no such scruples. It was through such mind invasions that he had taken control of the Council three hundred years earlier, with the help of Travers' ancestor and other disgruntled members of the Council. He knew that in three days, it would come to a head and the situation would be resolved, for better or worse, it would be over.