Title: Author, Author
Series: Magic Season (8/12)
Author: Kerry Blackwell-Dustin
Email: magicbox@whitehats.co.nz
Pairing: B/G, W/T, S/Dawn
Further disclaimers etc in part 0
"I think you'd better keep an eye on that daughter of yours," Spike told Wesley with a sly grin as the front door banged shut after Susan, Hazel and Miriam. "I think she has a potential future as a consummate liar."
"I hardly think that's fair," Wes protested. "She was given a job to do and she performed admirably."
"By lying like a trooper," Spike clarified. "I'm just saying you'd better watch out."
Wesley frowned, looking at Spike with a dangerous expression on his face.
"Have you thought about letting her have acting lessons?" Giles asked his son. "She'd be a natural."
"Acting..." Wesley repeated thoughtfully, the tension in his face easing. "Maybe..."
"Acting is just a smart way of saying lying," Spike added helpfully. Finding himself immediately pinned by two identical, patented Giles family glares, Spike decided retreat was definitely the safest option. He stood, and went to check on the egg nog chilling in the refrigerator.
As he passed Angel, the former vampire mouthed a silent word in his direction. Spike could decipher it easily. _Domesticated_. He just flashed a grin at Angel and kept right on walking. If it was forced to admit it at stake-point, he would concede that Dawn had indeed house-trained him to some degree at least. But Spike had seen Angel with Brianna and Sionell. The man was far more Summers-whipped than Spike would ever be.
When he returned to the kitchen table, carrying the chilled glasses Dawn had prepared the night before, the party had been joined by Richard Marsh. The Watcher had looked into the room and raised his eyebrows.
"I thought I was the only one up this early," he commented. Wesley waved in the direction of an empty chair - not Spike's only temporarily vacant one the vampire was happy to note - and Richard dropped into it gracelessly.
Giles grinned at him, accepting a glass of egg nog from Spike with a nod of thanks. "It's a conspiracy," he admitted as he took a first sip.
Richard just stared, confused, and Wesley took pity on him.
"It's about Hazel," he explained, which completely failed to enlighten the other man any further.
Spike handed Marsh a glass and sat down again, turning his chair around without thinking about it and sitting so that his arms were resting on the carved back. "It's like this, mate..." he began, taking a large swallow of his own drink. "Hazel is the witches' kid. Willow and Tara's daughter. She has this beau who she hasn't met. It's all about magic or some such - you should ask Rupes about that part. We lured her out of the house for the morning and we're going to check him out before she gets back. If he's not good enough for the girl, he's out."
"I see," Richard agreed, not looking entirely sure about that.
"It's a soulmate seeking spell," Giles elaborated. "Laid on a book written by this man, Falconer."
"Greg Falconer?" Marsh interrupted. "Melanie reads his books. He certainly knows his stuff, but it's carefully written. No-one who didn't already have the knowledge would know it's anything more than just clever fantasy."
Angel nodded. "We all became avid readers after Hazel dropped her bombshell last year. We don't _think_ it's a con, but we're not going to let anything happen to Hazel."
"We're checking him out before he gets close to her," Spike added stoutly.
"Hazel is a very powerful young woman," Giles continued. "There's always been something special about her. She was abandoned as a baby, possibly because she wasn't a nice, simple, _normal_ baby. Fortunately, the woman assigned to her case had been married to a Watcher. She recognised Hazel's potential and together she and I made sure Willow and Tara - two powerful witches themselves - were the ones who adopted her."
Richard was nodding thoughtfully. "But soulmate bonds are unbelievably rare," he said slowly. "Watcher records suggest they only happen something like once every eight hundred to a thousand years. You think this girl has one?"
"I don't think they are as rare as that," Giles said unexpectedly. "I think there could be a lot of couples that are linked at a similar level, but it happens naturally and remains beyond awareness. The ones that make the records are the extraordinary cases, and usually involve two people with very powerful and elemental magic."
"Hazel has power over the elements," Wesley offered. "She was eleven at the time and I'd been roped into babysitting when it first manifested." He gave a weak grin. "Scared me witless. Fortunately, Tara and Willow felt the disturbance in the ether or whatever. They made it back home again before any serious damage was caused."
Richard whistled softly. "So can I watch?"
Angel smiled, a particularly nasty smile. "If you're willing to help us kick his butt into the nearest hell dimension if he isn't on the level."
Richard Marsh looked at the man who had once been a vampire, one whom he had studied in detail during his days at the Watcher Academy, and he slowly began to grin. "Count me in."
Wesley gave his father a slightly worried look. "Dad, what are the chances this isn't for real?"
Not having a real answer, Giles shrugged. "I think it's probably going to be fine. Willow and Tara have been over the spell traces on the book every which way they can. I've called in a dozen favours to get other experts to look at it. It's definitely keyed solely to Hazel. She only has to get within about a foot of a copy of the novel and it activates the spell. No-one else can get it to kick in, no matter how hard they try. It's very well set - to anyone but Hazel any copy of the damn thing is just paper and ink and no danger at all."
"It's not dangerous to Hazel though, is it?" Spike had already asked that question many times and been given the same answer each one, but it never hurt to check again.
"No," Giles answered. "But if the man's not for real, something will have to be done to unset the spell." The look on his face was harsh and he knew it, the one Buffy called his 'Ripper look'. He didn't care; no-one was going to hurt Hazel. "We'll make damn sure he tells us how to do it."
Richard leaned back in his chair, setting his empty glass on the table. He looked around, seeing the same set, implacable look on each face. Hazel had good guardians. If she needed it, she had all the protection she could ever require. And if she and Greg Falconer really were soulmates, that protection would automatically extend to him as well.
This was one amazing family, bound not necessarily by blood but through love and history. Upon consideration they were a bizarre group: watcher, slayer, vampire, witch, joined into the second and third generations. The world had never seen anything like them before, and probably never would again.
_Which_, Richard reflected, _is probably a good thing. The world might not survive otherwise._
It was an honour to know them all.
*****
The doorbell rang right on the scheduled moment, the hall clock just beginning to chime nine when the bell sounded. Dawn got up from her seat and went to open the door.
Giles looked around the living room and almost felt sorry for the man waiting on the other side of it.
Brianna was upstairs with Sionell; Joy and Melanie had made themselves scarce and were playing with Jeremy in one of the bedrooms. However, that still left a formidable array of people in the lounge, waiting to pass judgement.
Willow and Tara were sitting together, looking worried. Angel and Spike were standing beside the fireplace, united in purpose for once. Somewhat ironically, Richard Marsh had joined them, making a rather fearsome looking trio.
He and Buffy were sharing the sofa, with Wesley leaning against the back, currently speaking quietly to his mother. Tricia Harris was sitting on a cushion on the hearth, looking fascinated by the entire proceeding.
As Wes finished speaking, Buffy chuckled and leaned closer to her husband. "Almost feel sorry for him," she whispered and Giles nodded in agreement.
She meant it too. Of course, if there was anything wrong with this man, he'd deserve everything he got, but there was a very high chance he was on the level. Spells on books seemed a strange way to find the love of your life to Buffy, but falling for your Watcher probably wasn't exactly normal either.
Greg Falconer, when he walked into the room with Dawn, certainly _looked_ normal. He was older than Hazel, probably in his early thirties Buffy thought, but didn't appear to have any immediately obvious defects. No horns, no tail, no glowing eyes. His complexion was ruddy from the cold outside - always a good thing to a resident of Sunnydale - and he was neatly but casually dressed in jeans and a green and black sweater.
He still had a lot of explaining to do, but Buffy was prepared to give him the chance to do so and not toss him out into the street again immediately. She turned to Giles to tell him so and was startled by the look on his face.
Giles was staring at Greg Falconer in total and utter disbelief. "M-Mr Hawkesbury?" he managed finally with a stutter in his voice that hadn't surfaced in decades.
The young man smiled at him. "Hello, Rupert, my boy. Fancy meeting you here."