TITLE Laura Giles Part 12/?
AUTHOR Laura Curtis
PAIRING None so far
RATING PG
SUMMARY Laura comes to Buffy’s with a new Potential. And pulls a Ripper on Rupert.
DISCLAIMER Don’t own them, just the ones I make up. Don’t know them. Not making any money. Just having fun with them. I promise to return them unharmed.
Please send feedback.
May 2003
[Spike walked out the front door and down the sidewalk towards the street. He pauses, shuts his eyes, and smells the air looking for her scent. Finally he catches her scent, turns, and walks down the street.]
It had been a long trip. All the way from Fallon, Nevada. Not wanting to take any chances, they had driven straight through. Luckily the two Potentials had their licenses so they could help drive. Still, Laura did most of the driving. Just as they pulled up in front of the house, Laura saw someone walking down the street. Afraid that it might be one of the First’s minions, Laura honked the car horn. A minute later Faith, Xander, Rupert and a couple of the girls came out.
Seeing them come out of the house Laura said to the others in the car. “Its ok. We can get out now.”
Once they got into the house Laura sat down on the couch, laid her head back, and fell asleep. Rupert went to talk to her and one of the new ones spoke up. “She’s exhausted. She insisted on doing most of the driving. We drove straight through to here. It should have taken us three days to get here. We did it in a day and a half.”
Rupert looked down and smiled. He started to pick her up when Xander spoke up. “Let me take her.”
Still looking at her Rupert said. “No. Thanks Xander. I’ll take her.” Then he picked her up and started for the stairs.
Sleepily Laura started talking in her sleep. But it was what she said that made Rupert stop and realize what a fool he had been. “Misguided he will abandon her, And remove her from her station, But in the end she will be the One, The Champion in the final battle will be by her side, But through his sacrifice, Shall all the slayers be saved, Do not despair Hidden One for he will return, His slayer, his soul mate, is the Hidden One”
In a quiet voice Rupert said, “What have I done?”
Xander seeing Giles stop came up and asked. “Everything ok Giles?”
Shaken by what Laura has said he turns to Xander. “What have I done?”
Not understanding what Giles is talking about, Xander spoke the obvious. “You picked her up and was headed upstairs to put her to bed so she could rest.”
Just then Laura repeated the prophecy again. “Misguided he will abandon her, And remove her from her station, But in the end she will be the One, The Champion in the final battle will be by her side, But through his sacrifice, Shall all the slayers be saved, Do not despair Hidden One for he will return, His slayer, his soul mate, is the Hidden One”
Looking up at Giles, Xander asked. “What’s she talking about?”
Rupert’s knees started to buckle so Xander took Laura from him. Dawn seeing this ran up and grabbed on to Giles to steady him.
“Giles, what’s wrong?”
Rupert turned to Dawn and started to talk when Laura once again repeated what she had said.
Confused Dawn asked. “Giles, what is she talking about? Who will be abandoned and removed? Who is this Champion and Hidden One?”
Rupert looked at Laura and after a moment turned to the others. “It’s a very old prophecy. One I had forgotten about. It talks of Buffy. Of my abandonment of her when I left. Of our removing her from here last night. Oh God, the Champion, its Spike. Spike is the Chosen’s Champion. That’s why she keeps him around. And he is, will be, Laura’s soul mate.”
By this time the rest of the Scoobies had come up to find out what was going on.
On hearing Giles’ words Faith asked. “Hey, how about you start at the beginning and explain all of this.”
Rupert looked at Laura. “Lets put her in Buffy’s room.” A pained expression crossed his face. “I’ll explain there.”
Once they were all in Buffy’s room, Xander put Laura on the bed and took off her shoes to make her more comfortable. Giles started explaining about the prophecy. An hour later Giles was finished speaking and the rest were feeling remorseful. “Don’t fret about what we have done. It was all preordained. No matter how low we feel about it.”
Dawn spoke up. “Giles, I want to know. What is this bond and soul mate thing you told us about?”
“When a Watcher is given a Slayer a bond forms between the two which helps the Watcher train the Slayer better. Now, the Council always scoffed at the idea, but sometimes they bond so close that they become soul mates. Once and a while they start from the beginning being soul mates. You have all heard the saying ‘there is someone for everyone’?” When they all nodded their heads Giles continued. “It is not just a saying. It’s for real. And soul mates are the ones who are always meant to be together. I found in reading the journals of the best Watcher/Slayer pairs that they were the ones who were not only bonded, but were also soul mates.”
“But what does that have to do with you and Buffy?”
“When Uncle Merrick was searching for Buffy he found a book. The book had been hidden a very long time ago. Inside the book were three prophecies. The Slayer’s Prophecy, The Chosen One’s Prophecy, and The Champion’s Prophecy. Somewhere a long time ago either just the Head of the Council or the entire Council decided to change the first two prophecies into one, and the third was lost altogether. Dawn if you will go down and get Laura’s bag I’ll read them to you.”
Dawn took off to get the bag.
When she came back into the room Giles opened the bag and took the book out. “Now remember these first two have been combined into one.” Then Giles started reading the prophecies.
When he was finished they were all astounded.
Especially Faith. “So let me get this straight. All the slayers before and after Buffy are just plain slayers, nothing special about them.”
“No, all are unique in their own ways, only Buffy has what is necessary to defeat the First.”
Dawn then spoke up. “If you’re Buffy’s soul mate, why haven’t you bonded with her?”
Turning to Dawn, Giles asked her. “You know your sister. How do you think she would have felt about being bonded to a man my age? She had, in a way, started to bond to Merrick when he was killed. When she came here she was still hurting from his death and all the other things going on in her life at that moment. I must admit that I did introduce myself in a rather abrupt way.”
Willow laughed a little. “I remember. She told me about it.”
While all this was going on Laura had woke up and laid there with her eyes closed, listening. She knew the real reason Rupert hadn’t initiated the bond with Buffy. He feared that she wouldn’t return his love for her.
Dawn spoke up. “What do we do now? Do we go looking for her?”
That got Laura’s attention. Where was Buffy if she wasn’t here?
“We’ll wait until daylight and then Willow will do a locator spell. You’ll go get her then. We can’t go out right now. It would be too dangerous.”
Laura decided that she had had enough listening and was going to get to the bottom of this. “Rupert. Where’s Buffy?”
When he didn’t answer her, she opened her eyes and asked again. “Rupert, where’s Buffy?”
As she looked at them all they wouldn’t meet her eyes. Rupert was looking at his hands. “Rupert. Where Is Buffy!”
Dawn spoke up for them. “We had a vote and we all decided that she should step down as leader. And leave the house cause her last decision cost Xander his eye and some of the girls their lives.”
Laura sat up. “What? You threw her out of her own house?” Then she turned to Rupert. “And you let them? How could you? She is the Chosen One. Rupert? Tell me you had no part in this.”
He bowed his head but didn’t answer her.
Laura rose up to stand in front of him. “Answer me. You had no part of this, did you?”
He turned to leave the room when Laura grabbed him and slammed him against the wall. “You had better tell me, brother.”
The others tried to step up to his defense but Laura waved her hand at them. Suddenly they were frozen in place. Rupert looked at her, wondering where she had learned this.
“Where else would I learn this Rupert? I’ve been around you since I was 8. It’s the spell Ethan used to hold me. Where is she? Is she ok? Do you even care about her? You’re her bonded Watcher, her soul mate. How could you do this to her?” She pushed him into the wall with each question.
“Laura, I’m sorry. I have no excuse for what I did, or didn’t do. I didn’t even realize what we had done until you quoted the prophecy. We unknowingly followed the prophecy.”
“What? What are you talking about? Followed the prophecy, what prophecy?”
“The Champion’s Prophecy.”
Laura’s eyes widened at the mention of that prophecy. Running the prophecy through her mind she looked back at Rupert. “Oh God!” Laura put her hands over her eyes and leaned into Rupert. “Oh Rupert, I’m sorry. I heard you all talking and I flew into a rage when I realized what you had done.”
Rupert put his arms around her. “It’s ok, Laura. Can you release everyone?”
Laura raised her hand and waved it towards the others. Faith, pissed, started after Laura but Rupert stopped her. “Not now Faith. She has been under a lot of pressure lately. Going out and bringing in Potentials. Willow, get things together so when it’s daylight we can do a locator spell and find Buffy.”
Willow nodded then left the room. The others followed her so Rupert and Laura could talk.
“Rupert, she is your soul mate. How could you let this happen? Have you even open your mind to her?”
“No I haven’t. I couldn’t. She has never been ready to be bonded to me. To her I’m just an older man, her Watcher.”
“I think you’re wrong. I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. There is something, she may not realize what it is, but she does feel something.” With the fight going out of her Laura sat back down on the bed. “How long was I asleep?”
“A little over an hour, why?”
“I have to leave again. There are Potentials in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tucson. When this is all over I am taking a two month vacation.”
“Laura you’re exhausted. Rest some more and then leave in the morning.”
“I wish I could but I can’t. They know I’m on my way.” Laura put her shoes back on, got up and started for the door. When she got there she stopped and turned back to Rupert. “You have to find her. It’s time to open the bond to her.”
“Once this is over. When we have won I’ll open the bond to her. The time of bonding is a delicate time. Buffy needs all her concentration for what’s going on. She doesn’t have time to do the bond now.”
Laura nodded her head. “Ok. I’ll be back in two days with three more Potentials. See you then.”
“Be careful Laura. Right now I can’t lose you. I love you.”
Laura smiled, walk back to him and hugged him. “I love you too brother. See you in a couple of days.” She then turned and left to go to get the new Potentials.