Title: Unforeseen Circumstances 14/27
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: Sandra, thanks for such a quick beta. Great work, as usual.

Rupert and Buffy entered his flat for the first time in almost two months. It felt good to be home, even if home had touches of Xander's living there while they had been away. Both were so tired that they immediately walked upstairs to the loft and were asleep before they could even undress.

When Buffy woke up a little later in the morning, she felt Rupert's arms around her. She snuggled closer to him feeling arms tighten around her. They were home. She slowly fell back to sleep, content and safe in the arms of her lover.

Giles was barely awake when he felt Buffy move closer into his arms. He pulled her close relishing the feel of her in his arms. It was still a miracle that she loved him as he loved her. He too fell back to sleep in the comfort of that love.

**********

Joyce sat in her kitchen, alone for the first time in days. It seemed strange not to have the others around. She thought over everything that had happened over the past couple of months, so much had changed in her life and in Buffy's. Joyce thought about the phone call that was on her answering machine from Sergeant Williams telling her that they had made no progress in the case. She would discuss what to tell Sergeant Williams about their reappearance with Buffy and Giles later tonight when they met to discuss the prophecy and what it meant for the future.

Then her thoughts turned to Colin. She was beginning to feel very close to him and wondered if he felt the same. He seemed to, but her track record with men was less than sterling and she was still a little gun shy. His devotion to his family was so different from how Hank reacted to Buffy and she admired him for it. Once this crisis was over she would invite him for dinner and see where it led.

**********

Reginald had been up most of the day discussing the events of the preceding night with Lord Haddon. They were still looking for Nathan Rayne, who it appeared had escaped in the confusion of the battle. All the Rogue Watchers had been retrieved and were being held at the Council Compound in London.

In the search of the property several other gruesome discoveries had been made. The Mage who had owned the property had been found with his wife and daughter in a room that had been cloaked against random searches. Only when the room was breached did the spell collapse and the horror of what had happened in the room been revealed. Only a Mage could have tortured one of their own kind in such a hideous and gory fashion. All had their hands cut off, their eyes put out and their tongues cut from their mouths, then they had been left to bleed to death. In ancient times this had been the sentence for traitors, but the practice had been abandoned centuries earlier because of the extreme cruelty of it. As they entered the room where the horrific torture had taken place, there came a whimper from the small body of their daughter who had somehow survived. She had been taken immediately to the Mage home world where everything was being done to repair the damage, hoping to save her life.

Reginald knew that the Dark Seer couldn't have done this by himself and had the three Mages who had helped the Dark One taken to their home world to be interrogated. He realized that they would probably die or be driven insane during the interrogation, but he and the Ancient Mages needed to know if there were any other Rogue Mages at large. If there were, this problem was larger than they had ever imagined.

Reginald thought about Rupert and the conversation that they would have sometime in the next few days. He hoped he and his son could repair the damage that had started with Helen's death. Helen, he thought of his wife. Hardly a day went by that he didn't think of her. He still loved and missed her. He knew that he had to make every possible effort to be reunited with his only child.

**********

Willow had finally gotten all the information on Parker's wedding. She posted it to the School newspaper's website and printed flyers, which she would ask Xander, Anya and Tara help her to place in all the dorms and on the bulletin boards later tonight after the meeting. Willow was glad to do something to put Parker in his place and stop his abuse of the women on campus. Willow couldn't wait to see the reaction the flyers would cause. She also called the young woman that Parker was engaged to and told her about the conversation she and Buffy had overheard.

Mary had not been surprised by Willow's call, only by the fact that Willow hadn't been one of Parker's conquests. Mary didn't really want to marry Parker, but she wanted her child to have its father's name and her father was insistent upon the marriage, which would take place in one week.

**********

Later in the day when Buffy finally woke up she was in bed alone. She reached for Rupert and his side of the bed was empty. She looked around the room and saw him at the dresser opening a small velvet covered box.

"Rupert, what's that?" she asked him as she sat up in bed.

Not realizing that she has awakened, he quickly turned around, dropping the box, spreading its contents over the floor. He quickly bent down to retrieve its contents, hurriedly pushing everything back into it before Buffy saw what it contained. He quickly palmed one item as he stood up before she could join him.

"B…Buffy, I didn't know you were awake," he said as he joined her on the bed after placing the box back on his dresser.

"Okay, what are you hiding?"

"Well, I…I ," he started. "When I asked you to be my wife, I didn't have a ring to give you," he explained as he took a small ring box from his pocket. "This was my mother's," he told her as he opened the box and took out a sapphire ring in an old fashioned gold setting. "It was her engagement ring," he said as he placed the ring on her outstretched hand.

Buffy was overcome with emotion and reached for the man she would marry. "It's beautiful!"

"No more beautiful than you." He told her as he took her into his arms holding her close. As he gently kissed her, wanting to make love to her, he knew that they had to dress and get ready to leave to get to the meeting on time. "Love, it's late and we need to shower and change before the meeting."

"I know, but I'd rather stay here," Buffy informed him.

"So would I, but first things first," he said as he got up to gather what he needed for his shower.

They left the condo 25 minutes later to meet Willow, Tara, Xander and Anya for supper before heading to the meeting.

**********

Ethan looked around the room that the Council had paid for. It was the classic cheap American hotel room, narrow with little walking space, most of the room taken up by the king-sized bed. He wasn't really concerned with the bed or the room; he wanted to know where his brother was.

As children, they had been inseparable, doing every thing together. They had been content to play together needing no other playmates. Their childhood had been picture perfect until they turned 12, then everything had changed. Their parents had been killed in a freak traffic accident, leaving them the wards of their uncle, who hated all children. Everything changed from that day forward. No more romping through the house, causing mischief, which their parents had always laughed over. Uncle Trevor was strict and every time rules were broken, they would be severely punished. All the fun times disappeared, as did the happy childhood. Uncle Trevor was a Watcher and both boys were told that they too would study to take their places as Watchers with the Council.

Nathan was the more studious of the two and soon found himself enjoying the studies of the occult, demons and vampires, while Ethan was more drawn to the magical aspects. When they went to preparatory school they met other young men who were also destined to be Watchers. There were older students who were assigned to help the newcomers and their aide had been Quentin Travers.

Ethan immediately thought that something was odd about Quentin and another student, Rupert Giles agreed with him. Nathan was soon spending all his time with Travers and pushing his brother away. When Ethan questioned him, Nathan told him he was imagining things. Nothing was really obvious so Ethan kept his eyes open. Everything seemed mostly normal until they started their higher studies at Oxford.

Ethan, Nathan and Rupert were all assigned the same dorm room their freshman year and it soon became very apparent that Quentin had some sort of hold over Nathan. When Ethan tried again to confront his brother with his concerns, Nathan stormed off and changed rooms, totally cutting Ethan from his life. Ethan was devastated. Rupert tried to console his friend and both being tired of all the studying, decided to leave Oxford and head to London. Ethan had not spoken to his brother since. < Had Nathan been under Travers' spell all this time? > He had to find his brother and help him in whatever way he could.

**********

When Buffy, Giles, Xander, Anya, Willow and Anya arrived at Bri and Timothy's headquarters, everyone else was already there. They all gathered and Reginald began by telling them what had been discovered at the retreat.

"Will the child live?" Willow asked quietly.

"It is believed that she will make a complete recovery. Our medical abilities combined with our magick should be able to repair the damages to her body; it's the mental trauma that's of most concern. She is a very brave little girl," the Senior Mage informed the group. "What concerns us is the possibility of more Mages helping Travers and the Dark Seer. All of those we apprehended are now being questioned on our home world for the names of any who were contacted by Travers."

"Is there anything that we can do to help?" Bri asked, realizing that rogue Mages would be very dangerous.

"No, that will be handled exclusively by my people. It would be too dangerous for any humans to attempt. Our best physicians have examined my brother; and he is totally insane. We have attempted to interview him but nothing of importance has been forthcoming," he concluded. The Mage then turned to Reginald to continue with the report of what had been accomplished by the Watchers.

"Mr. Travers has been examined by our top physicians. The poison in his system is like nothing on this world and has invaded his entire body and the doctors feel that he won't live another 24 hours. When we searched his home we found more evidence of his traitorous activities and lists of his contacts, which are all over the world. These people are being taken into custody as we speak. His organization was larger than we expected, he even had 5 potential Slayers at a compound in South America. He was poised to engineer a takeover of the entire Council. Many of our most prominent Watcher Families have been compromised by the information found at Travers' home and in his office. The Mages will help us to sort out who was helping Travers and who is loyal to the Council. I have mandated that every Watcher and former Watcher be examined by the Mages' Truth scan."

Giles, Wesley and Timothy looked at each other. Never had they heard of this step being taken and all three knew just how dangerous this scan could be. Anyone subjected to the scan, who tried to hide his guilt, was subjected to a more intense scan and faced brain damage and possible death. The scan was very intrusive and revealed everything about a person, but the Mages who were trained in this skill were taught to concentrate on the information that was being searched for. It was considered a severe breach of privacy to discuss information gained through a scan that didn't relate to the target subjects.

"The Watchers who were involved in the attack have already been scanned. Some of them had been under spells cast by the Dark Mage and had only helped Travers because of these spells. They will be reinstated after a suspension and more training to assure their loyalty," Reginald continued.

"What about my brother?" Ethan asked.

"We haven't located him or the van he was in. But from the notations in Travers journals, it appears that your brother had been under these spells for a very long time. We don't know what sort of damage the long term effects may have had on him."

"I don't care, he is my brother and I will do whatever needs to be done to help him!" Ethan informed the group before he left the table and headed for the back door.

Giles realizing just how hard this information had hit Ethan rose to go to him.

"Rupert, before you go, I need to tell you. Some of the Watchers, who were under these spells, had mysterious heart attacks when the spells were lifted. We need to find Nathan as soon as possible. I think Ethan may be able to help us find his brother," Reginald informed Rupert as he left the room to go to Ethan.

As he left the building, he saw Ethan sitting on a bench under a tree a few feet from the building and he walked over to him.

"I have to find him Rupert. I have to, he's my brother!"

"I know Ethan. My father said that we needed to find him as soon as possible. Some of the Watchers who had been under the spells had mysterious heart attacks when the spells were lifted," he told his friend.

"I don't want him subjected to the scan, the spells will already have weaken his defenses. Hasn't he been hurt enough already?" Ethan asked, anger in his voice.

"Ethan, look at me. I was scanned when I returned to the Watchers. If you don't resist the scan you won't be harmed. It is intrusive and most unpleasant, but he can survive it, I did," Giles told him. He had never told anyone about being scanned.

"Why did they scan you?" Ethan asked in surprise.

"Because of the dark magical aura that surrounded me. I will help however I can. Remember, I know how much Nathan means to you."

Ethan looked at Rupert. They were on very different paths but were still able to communicate and remember how close they had been once. He knew that Rupert was a man of his word and would help him search for his brother. Ethan breathed a little easier knowing that he had the help of his one-time friend to find his brother.

**********

Joyce told the group about reporting Buffy and Giles missing and about the phone call from Sergeant Williams. Reginald asked for all the details of what she and Xander had done and what the police had discovered. Reginald told her not to worry, the Council would contact Sergeant Williams and let him know that Travers was behind the disappearance of Buffy and Rupert. He assured Buffy's mother that the Council could manufacture enough evidence to convince the police of Travers' guilt in the abduction and faked death of her daughter and his son.

They had just finished discussing this problem when Rupert and Ethan reentered the building. The group again discussed what had happened and what would happen over the next few days, including informing the police that Buffy and Giles were still in the land of the living. Once they had concluded everything, everyone headed for their respective homes to catch up on the rest that they had missed.

Xander and Anya had been glad to help Willow placing the flyers over the campus after the meeting broke up after midnight. They blanketed the campus, leaving stacks of flyers in the dorms and posting them in the common areas and in the classroom buildings. It took the four of them only two hours to complete the task. Willow couldn't wait to see what Parker's reaction would be the next day.

**********

Nathan slowly awoke in the cheap motel he had checked into early yesterday morning. He didn't know how he had gotten to the States; the last thing he clearly remembered was rooming at Oxford with Ethan and Rupert Giles. From his appearance it seemed that many years had passed. He had strange dreams where he had abandoned his brother for Quentin Travers but he didn't even like Travers. Nathan didn't know what to believe. He couldn't reach his brother and he wasn't going to attempt to contact his uncle, even if the man was still alive. As he went through his pockets he found several numbers for the Watcher's Council and he wondered if he should call them. Not knowing what to do, he decided to find out more about where he was before he made any decisions.

**********

Parker left his dorm and headed for the Rocket Café to grab some breakfast before his first class. He thought that several people were looking at him a little strangely, but he didn't really pay attention. His mind was on Susan Blackmon, his latest conquest. Last night with her had been fun, and the last before he would get married on Saturday. Married! He still couldn't believe that his Dad had insisted that he marry that drab daughter of his partner. So he got her pregnant, she could abort the thing and then he could get on with his life. But no, she had to try and tie him down. Well Miss Mary quite contrary, she had another thought coming. He already had his next conquest all picked out for when he returned. Sheesh, his Dad was even sending them on a honeymoon, as if he would touch her again!

Parker was brought out of his musings when Susan Blackmon, who had a boy with her, stopped him. When she slapped him with all her might she got his undivided attention.

"When were you going to tell me about your marriage? Or were you just going to dump me like all the rest?" she ranted at him as she threw a wadded up flyer at him before stomping off.

"If I ever hear of you anywhere near my sister again, I will not be responsible for my actions!" the boy with her told Parker as he towered over Parker by a good five inches.

Susan's brother then left to follow his sister. Once he was gone, Parker took the flyer and smoothed it out. The information on it only made his anger at being accosted worse.

The Flyer read: Congratulations to Parker Abrams and Mary Cohen. Their marriage will be Saturday, December 12, 1999. Parker and his future bride would like to invite all to their wedding, especially all the girls that he has dated over the months since he came to College. Their child is due in mid-April.

Who had done this! Who could have known that he was being forced to marry? He was determined to find out.

Parker stormed into the café, quickly ordered breakfast to go and waited for his order. Before his order had come, 3 of his conquests had been by to give him a piece of him of their minds and their hands. He felt like a slapping bag. Once his order was done he quickly took it and left. His classes weren't much better. He was accosted several times by girls he had dated and by their friends. He was glad when his psychology class was over. He quickly left bumping into another classmate, Willow. When he reached to help her pick up her books he reached for a stack of papers and saw that they were copies of the flyers that had been posted.

"You! You're responsible for this!" he ranted as he shook the flyers in her face. He then started beating her about the head with the flyers. Riley, the TA in the class rushed to help Willow and pinned Parker to the wall as other people of the class rushed to help the young woman.

"What is going on here?" Riley asked as Professor Walsh approached the commotion.

"She….She…" Parker started, before Professor Walsh took the wad of flyers from his hand, reading the top one.

"So I see that you are getting married and have been dating other women on campus. And then you accost a woman in my classroom. Mr. Abrams, you will accompany me to the Dean's office, now! Ms. Rosenberg, are you alright?" Professor Walsh asked of her student.

When Willow quietly nodded, Professor Walsh asked her to accompany them to the Dean's office.

Parker couldn't believe this. The Dean would more than likely call his father. He would find some way to get back at Willow. Wasn't she Buffy's friend? But how did she know about his wedding? He had to find out. He thought about what he would do as they approached the Dean's office.

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