Title: Unforeseen Circumstances 27/27
Author: Jadedragon
Rating: R
Spoilers: Season 4 up until Bad Beer, Angel Season 1, in my
verse, Doyle didn't die!
Disclaimer: Not mine, Buffy and company belong to Josh, Mutant
Enemy and the WB and UPN
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. Also thanks to Akela for making an unexpected
dream come true.
Buffy and Giles were exhausted by the time they got back to Sunnydale and went immediately home where Reginald had arranged for a doctor to meet them to examine Alicia to be sure she had not suffered from being abducted. Buffy watched sleepily as the doctor examined her child. Once Alicia was given a clean bill of health, she was put to bed and her mother went to sleep as well. Reginald had also arranged for a nurse to help Buffy with Alicia while she recovered from the birth. Giles laid down watching Buffy sleep and soon was asleep himself.
Reginald made a call to the Headquarters to let them know that everyone was home and in good health. He assured them that they would be at the Headquarters later after they had gotten some rest. He also called the Council office before he too went to the guest room and got some sleep.
**********
Buffy was woken by a baby crying and realized that it was Alicia. She went to the nursery where the nurse was just picking up the infant. Buffy reached out and took her child from the nurse, still in awe at the little person she had carried inside her for almost 9 months. Buffy sat in the rocking chair, a bit unsure of how to feed her daughter. The nurse instructed her and soon Alicia was feeding at her mother's breast. As she was feeding Alicia, the nurse left the room and Buffy looked up to see Giles watching her from the doorway.
"Come tell your daughter good afternoon," she motioned him closer.
Giles smiled as he approached Buffy and Alicia. Buffy looked so natural holding their child…and Alicia was indeed his child. He couldn't have loved her more, even if he were her biological father. He gently took her in his arms when Buffy handed her to him. She was so small. It was hard to believe that he had been this small so many years ago.
"She's so beautiful," he said with awe in his voice.
"Yes she is. Rupert, I'm so happy. She's home and we're safe," Buffy said as she pulled her robe closed.
"Yes, well as safe as anyone can be on the Hellmouth," he corrected her.
"You know what I mean," she teased him as she playfully punched him in the arm. "I think we'd better get dressed. Everyone will be wanting to see this little one, my Mom, especially."
"Yes, I told them we would be there about 5:00," Reginald said as he entered the room. "I hope I'm not interrupting, but I wanted to tell you that I talked with Timothy before I went to bed to assure them we made it back"
"Thank you, I was so tired that I fell asleep without even thinking about anything else once the doctor confirmed that Alicia was alright," Buffy said to her father-in-law.
"Dad, thank you. Would you like to hold Alicia?" Giles asked.
"I would be most honored!" he said as Giles placed the infant in his arms.
Reginald looked down at the little girl named after his wife. He remembered the night that Rupert was first laid in his arms and felt his wife's presence beside him. Alicia would have loved being a grandmother, but her life had been cut short too soon. He promised her that he would be a good grandfather to the child he held.
**********
Joyce was trying to finish up the paperwork from the shipment that had arrived two weeks earlier, but her mind was on Buffy and Alicia. Timothy had assured her that they were all fine that morning, but she wouldn't be satisfied until she had held her daughter and granddaughter in her arms. She looked up from the paperwork and saw Colin standing in her doorway. She smiled at him and laid her pen down.
"You're early," she commented, with a smile.
"I couldn't wait to see you again," he told her as he handed her a single red rose.
Joyce took the rose from his hand and breathed in its sweet scent, remembering the first rose he had given her three days earlier. She remembered waking up in his arms after they had made love for the first time. Colin had presented her with a single red rose along with breakfast in bed. Their relationship had grown slowly and now they were inseparable. Joyce hadn't been so happy in years and it was because of Colin. She looked at the man she had fallen in love with.
"Colin, I want to tell Buffy and Ria…"
"I think they already know," he started.
"…that you're moving in with me," Joyce finished, with hope in her eyes.
Colin looked at the woman he had come to love so deeply. She was so brave. At first they had been drawn together by their daughters destinies, but they had connected on a deeper level as they had come to know one another. He never thought he could ever love another woman after his wife had died, but meeting Joyce had been wonderful, for both of them.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I want to wake up in your arms every morning. I love you Colin," she admitted.
"I love you, too," he told her as he took her into his arms for a passionate kiss.
Several minutes later, they left the Gallery and the unfinished paperwork to join the rest of the group at the Headquarters to wait for Buffy, Rupert, Reginald and Alicia.
**********
As Buffy and Giles entered carrying their child, the Scoobies surrounded them, all wanting to see Alicia. Reginald came in just after them and watched the group fussing over his granddaughter. Buffy took Alicia's carrier and set it up on the table where they usually researched, but this afternoon it was set up for a party. There was a cake, which was decorated with pink icing saying Welcome Home, Alicia Giles. Pink and white balloons were all around the room as well as pink baby decorations. Buffy and Giles looked at their friends and family, glad to be home.
As Joyce held her granddaughter, Tara handed Buffy a coke and made tea for Giles and his father. Everyone was relaxed and happy when the door burst open and Hank rushed in walking immediately to Buffy and taking her into his arms.
"Buffy, are you alright?" asked the distraught man.
"Dad, I'm fine," she assured him
"And the baby, is she alright?"
"Alicia is fine, too," Buffy said as she looked up at her father and saw just how scared he was. "Dad, what's wrong?"
"Buffy, please don't hate me. I didn't know. I truly didn't know!" he pleaded with his daughter.
"Dad, what are you talking about?" she asked as she tried to comfort her father.
"I was William's financial advisor. I helped him, but I didn't know he was talking about Alicia. You never told me who her father really was."
"What?" Buffy asked, in shock.
"Buffy, your father was used by William, as you were," Joyce told her.
"Dad, William Abrams is a very deceitful man and he fooled a lot of people. I don't hate you, I never could. You're my Dad," she gently told him.
Hank took Buffy in his arms, holding her for the first time in years, reconnecting with her. As they broke apart, Joyce handed her former husband, their first grandchild.
"Meet Alicia Giles," she told him as Hank took the infant into his arms.
"She's beautiful," Paige said, for her awe struck husband.
Hank held the precious bundle in his arms as Paige stood by his side. He thought over all the times he hadn't spent with his daughter and promised Alicia that he wouldn't let work interfere with being a good grandfather. He knew that if anything happened to Buffy or Rupert he would step in. That thought brought something else to mind. Why had they gone to Mexico? Why hadn't they let the authorities handle the kidnapping? Buffy could have been killed!
Buffy saw the questions in her father's eyes and she looked up at her husband. She knew that it was time to tell him about her destiny and it was a conversation that she wasn't looking forward to.
"Buffy why, in heaven's name did you traipse, off to Mexico? You haven't even recovered from Alicia's birth?" Hank asked the first of what would be many questions.
"Dad, there is a lot to explain, lets go to the sitting area and discuss it. Mom, will you take Alicia?" she asked as she led her father to the sitting area in the back of the large room. Rupert, Reginald and Paige followed them.
"Buffy, I want some answers. I don't want Paige and I to have to raise our granddaughter," he started once they were seated.
"Dad, I don't know where to start.'
"Buffy, maybe the best place to start is the beginning," Reginald suggested.
"Beginning, what beginning?" Hank asked as Paige sat beside him to try and keep him calm.
"Dad, do you remember when I burned down the Gym at Henley?" Buffy started.
"Of course, I remember. You got thrown out for that stunt!"
"Dad, there was a reason I had to burn down the gym."
"What are you talking about?" he asked her with a puzzled expression on his face.
"Dad, I was trying to save everyone there from an extremely vicious vampire and his minions."
"Vampires! You must have a better explanation than that?" he told her, disbelief on his face.
"No, that's the explanation. I'm the Slayer, The Chosen One."
"Buffy what the hell are you talking about?"
"Rupert, you're better at this than I am," she turned to her husband, who was sitting beside her.
"In each generation there is one girl born, one girl in all the world…." Giles continued explaining that vampires were real and that Buffy fought them and other demons. For the next hour he, Buffy and Reginald explained about his daughter's destiny and her work in Sunnydale with the help of her friends. Hank and Paige listened at first in disbelief; which soon turned to horror as both realized that everything they were being told was the truth. This explained what his daughter was doing in Sunnydale but not why she had gone to Mexico to rescue her daughter.
"But why go to Mexico?"
"Because, I didn't want to lose my daughter! Dad, I'm the first Slayer in over three hundred years to retire, marry and have a child. William Abrams, left me to die, locked in the basement of a building he had rigged to explode. If I hadn't been the Slayer I would be dead! Reginald is the Chairman of the Watcher's Council and had contacts within the Mexican Government. It was with their help that we were able to rescue Alicia. I couldn't leave her with him!" she cried as her father took Buffy into his arms.
"Buffy, why didn't you tell me years ago?" Hank asked.
"I didn't even tell Mom until she saw me slay a vampire in front of her! I was trying to protect you,"
"But, I'm your father, I'm supposed to protect you!"
"Dad, you weren't around. It was easier not telling you," she answered him.
Hank was stunned. He thought about what she had said and how little he had been in her life. Hell, he didn't even know her friends or her anymore for that matter. She had been right not to tell him.
"Buffy, I'm sorry I wasn't here for you," he told her with shame on his face. "How can I make it up to you?"
"By being here now. By just being my Dad and Alicia's grandfather."
Hank looked at the young woman she had become when he hadn't been looking. She had a husband who obviously loved her very much, a beautiful daughter and friends willing to give their lives to help her in this strange destiny of hers.
"Honey, I want to learn more about what you and Rupert do and get to know you and your friends so I can help."
"I'd like to help too," Paige told her daughter-in-law.
Buffy looked at her Dad and new mother-in-law relieved that it had gone better than she had thought it would. She hugged them both and they all returned to the party. She introduced her Dad to all of her friends and celebrated with them. Buffy was standing to one side watching her Dad and Reginald talking when Rupert came up beside her.
"Luv, are you alright?" he asked concerned that she was standing alone.
"Yes, I'm great. I feel that I have my Dad back in my life," she explained with tears in her eyes. She then turned to her husband. "I never thought I could be so happy."
"You deserve it. Buffy you've fought every kind of demon in these past four years."
"Yeah, but I never dreamed that when I realized I was pregnant that everything would turn out so well. I'm married to the man I love, we have a beautiful daughter, I'm retired from being the Active Slayer and my Dad now knows about my real life," she explained.
"Luv, sometimes circumstances that we have no control over can lead to the most wonderful futures," he told the woman he loved, as he stroked her hair from her cheek.
Buffy looked into his eyes and reached up to take his lips with her own. But before the kiss became too passionate, they rejoined the celebration of their daughter's birth, each quite happy with what all the unforeseen circumstances had led to this time.
The End