Title: The Assistant 7/?
Author: Sweetdoggie
Disclaimer: No permission has been granted to use the characters. They are owned by their creator, Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, UPN, WB, and Mutant Enemy. This story is non-profit and is intended solely as entertainment. No copyright infringement is intended.
Buffy’s seventeenth birthday was interesting in several different ways. The Scoobies found out exactly what Spike was planning when Angel intercepted the delivery of a severed arm belonging to an entity known as the Judge. Not really knowing what else to do with it, he gave it to Buffy.
She looked at it with her nose crinkled in disgust. “Wow. Just the gift for the girl who has everything, a demon arm in a box. Thanks so much.” She looked at Giles. “What do we do with this?”
“We must get it out of town. Angel? Can you take it away where it can’t be found?” Giles didn’t add ‘and stay there with it,’ but it was certainly implied. He distrusted the handsome creature of the night, not least because Angel kept mooning over Buffy.
Angel looked at the Watcher knowing exactly what the human was thinking. “Yes, I can do that. You freed me from the Master’s dominion, I guess I can get rid of an arm for you.” He turned to Buffy. “I guess, I’ll see you sometime.”
She nodded, fully aware that the vampire was in love with her. “Yeah. Sometime.”
He left the library only to return within the hour, beaten and bloody. “They got it. I couldn’t stop them.”
Everybody sat around the library wondering what to do next. Finally, Buffy spoke. “Well, this isn’t good. Tell us about this Judge guy, Giles.”
Giles sighed. “Large, blue, evil. Burns out any human feeling from his victims. Can’t be killed by any weapon forged by man. Goal is world domination and total destruction of humanity. The usual.”
Everyone looked at Giles. Normally he wasn’t so flippant but he hadn’t slept since the night Buffy had spent at his house and it was beginning to show on him. Buffy sat on the edge of the library table, chin resting on her drawn up knees. She was deep in thought. “I have a plan.” She said looking up at her friends. “Xander…”
She explained her idea and everyone fell into their assigned duties. Giles was proud that his dear girl was taking charge. Her plan was excellent. When Xander and Cordelia arrived back at the headquarters with the rocket launcher, Buffy looked it over greedily. “I just love new and interesting ways of killing the bad guys.” She told her Watchers with a grin.
They set out in the Gilesmobile, puttering along at a sedate twenty miles per hour till they got to the mall. Buffy ran into the main mezzanine just as the Judge began his swathe of death and destruction. He spotted Buffy but had no idea what the weapon she pointed at him was. He wasn’t worried, however, believing rather strongly in the ‘no weapon forged by man’ part of his own legend. Buffy blew him into more pieces than a jigsaw puzzle. Spike and Drucilla, heavily into self-preservation, had abandoned him at the first sight of the huge gun. Angel had tried to track them, but had to take cover behind a counter when the Judge was summarily sprayed across the mall.
Buffy had made Merrick stay behind at the Library. “Somebody needs to be alive to call the Council if things go badly. I love you, Merrick. Please stay here and take care of yourself.” Buffy had begged him. He felt useless, but couldn’t argue that he would be of no use against an agile, vicious foe. Praying for his family’s safe return he prepared a pot of tea.
It took a good hour for the Scoobies to find all the parts of the Judge. Each part was bagged into a separate plastic sack. Willow had brought her mother’s Seal-a-Meal and the Judge was now contained in about five hundred individually sealed fully reheatable packets. They had gone through twelve rolls of the plastic stuff for the machine, but the Judge was guaranteed fresh for eternity.
Buffy hefted her rocket launcher onto her shoulder. “Now this is the perfect gift.” She told Xander with a grin. “It’s totally lethal and you can accessorize.”
Xander grinned sheepishly. “Well, I knew that hour-and-a-half stint in the army was going to come in handy someday.” He chuckled, referring to last Halloween when he had been transformed into a macho military dude.
They trooped slowly and tiredly out to the car, Buffy carefully stowing the rocket launcher in the trunk. “I wish we had more bullets for this thing.” She told Giles happily. “I think I like blowing up evil guys. If we’d had one of these when we faced the Master, I’d have blown his as-er, behind off. That would have showed him.” She grinned.
Giles smiled to see her so happy. “I’ll look into getting more missiles for it, if you wish, Buffy.”
“Cool.” She impulsively slipped her arm around his waist and hugged him. He looked down at her surprised by her spontaneous show of affection before slipping his long arm over her shoulders. They didn’t notice the others looking at them with various degrees of amusement on their faces. Angel alone looked on the scene with an unhappy mien. He wanted Buffy and she wanted, well, not him. She was getting on entirely too well with the Watcher and the vampire knew that meant their bond was forming. Soon, it would be too late to claim the Slayer as his own.
“So, Buffy. Would you like to go for a walk with me?” Angel asked her. “Maybe we can find Spike and Dru and stake them before they do any more crazy stuff.”
Giles rolled his eyes at the transparency of this ploy. Buffy looked at her shoes then back up at the handsome vampire. “Gee, that sounds fun, Angel, but I’m going home with Merrick and Giles. Maybe some other time. Say! I have an idea. Why don’t you go talk to Spike and Drucilla and tell them that it would be a good idea if they got out of town? Because I have more bullets for this big gun and I really, really like using it.”
“Uh, I’m not sure where they are at.” Countered the vampire weakly.
“Well, I’d try the mansion. They don’t seem like either of them are deep thinkers.” Buffy said with a shrug.
Angel sighed his temporary defeat. “Won’t your mother be looking for you tonight?”
“Nope. She said she was going to LA and wouldn’t be back tonight.” Buffy said with a smile at Giles.
Everyone filed out of the library. Giles turned out the lights before turning to the vampire still standing alone in the dark. “Do lock up when you’re finished, Angel.” He could practically hear the creature grinding his teeth in frustration.
They got back to the Watcher’s home and Buffy claimed the left side of the couch so she could curl up in the corner. Merrick plopped down into an over-stuffed chair and Giles took the center of the couch so he could be closer to Buffy. She yawned and looked with affection on her two Watchers. “Interesting birthday.” She said with a tired grin. “I really do like the Rocket Launcher.”
“Good Heavens! I nearly forgot in the rush!” Giles hopped up and ran upstairs. He came back shortly carrying two packages that he handed to Buffy. “Your presents from John and myself.”
“Oooo. Presents! Thank you, guys. You didn’t need to do anything else though. The big gun was totally cool.”
“Open Merrick’s first. It’s the large one.” Giles instructed her.
Buffy tore open the package and stopped with awe on her face. Inside was the most beautiful and expensive pair of ice skates that she had ever seen. She ran her hand over the tooled leather gently before setting the package down and going to the older man. She fell on her knees in front of him and enveloped him in a hug that left him gasping for air.
“Thank you, Merrick. Thank you. They are so beautiful. Will you come see me skate? Please?” She begged him prettily.
He stroked her hair softly. “I could do nothing less than watch you, dear. I know how much you miss it and I hope these skates make up in some small way for you having to give up your dreams in order to save the world.”
She held him for long minutes before releasing him and gently picking up Rupert’s gift. It was small, but felt substantial. She opened it and found a jeweler’s box, which she opened very slowly. Inside was the most exquisite piece of jewelry she had ever seen. It was a cross made from beaten gold, inlaid with rubies on the four arms and a diamond mounted in the center. She was speechless.
“D, do you like it?” He asked hesitantly. “I, it’s a family heirloom, passed down to the Giles brides. I know we aren’t s, seeing each other like that yet, but I wanted you to have it.”
“My God, Giles! Rupert, this is the most fantastic thing I have ever seen! It’s too good for me. I’m just Buffy and this should be worn by some beautiful aristocrat.”
“When you put it on, love, it will be.” He told her simply.
She held it out to him and lifted her hair turning her back to him so he could fasten the clasp. She felt him drape the cool metal against her skin. “Once this is fastened, we will be joined Buffy. No woman who has ever worn this piece has ever cancelled her wedding. Can you wear this for me knowing it will never come off while you live?”
She turned her head slightly and leaned back against his strong frame. “I can do that, Rupert.”
The clasp went together with a small snick of sound and Buffy felt a rush of peace as if a decision that had been bothering her had just been made. She supposed in a way, it had been. She turned towards him and he pulled her into his arms. Their lips met in a kiss that echoed their growing passion and need for each other. Finally, he stepped back but kept hold of her hands.
“We will speak with your mother in the morning, dearest. She will learn of your destiny and of my love for you at the same time.”
Buffy nodded, hypnotized by his passion. She leaned against him and listened to his heartbeat. It beat for her, she knew.
Buffy, Giles and Merrick pulled up in front of Buffy’s house at ten the next morning. Giles’ car had an engine knock that lasted for about three minutes after the car was turned off. Buffy stood looking at it, arms crossed over her chest. “You need a new car, Giles.”
“Nonsense. I’m sure a simple tune up will take care of everything.” He retorted with a smile.
Buffy and Merrick exchanged glances, rolled their eyes expressively and walked to the door of Buffy’s house. It opened as they got there.
“Buffy Summers! Where have you been? I’ve been really worried. I got home at midnight because I didn’t want to leave you alone and I find you’re out gallivanting around, not coming home until the next morning! You are so grounded, you’re going to be in college before you have another free night! And what are Mr. Merrick and Mr. Giles doing here at this time of day?” She nodded at the two men who stood rather helplessly behind Buffy, glad to be somewhat shielded from this onslaught.
Merrick stepped forward. “Uh, Mrs. Summers, Buffy spent the night at our house. She was very tired last night and we didn’t wish her to be alone. You said you were going to be gone all night.”
Joyce frowned at the two men and stood with her arms crossed over her chest in a posture very reminiscent of her daughter. “My daughter spent the night at your house?” She turned to Buffy. “You spent the night in a house with two strangers?”
Buffy shrugged. “They aren’t strangers, mom. They’re my best friends in the whole world. We have something we need to talk with you about anyhow, so would you mind letting us in?”
Both Giles and Merrick had blossomed smiles when Buffy had declared them to be her best friends and had championed them to her mother. Joyce reluctantly ushered them all inside. She offered to get them coffee, but they were too nervous for that casual courtesy and declined. Buffy offered to make them tea and they smiled again, but still declined. She sat on the couch and each man sat next to her, Merrick on her left and Giles on her right. Unconsciously, both men put their arms around Buffy so that she was safe between them. Joyce narrowed her eyes at this obvious display of affection and trust between the three of them.
“Mom, we have some serious stuff to talk about with you. I want you to hear us out first, before you say anything, OK? Give us a chance to talk and then you can say what you need to. Agreed?” Buffy spoke as an adult to her mother for nearly the first time and it shocked Joyce into compliance. This wasn’t her baby girl speaking; it was a young woman addressing her as another adult.
“All right. Go ahead and speak, Buffy.” She sat back in the chair and watched the trio.
“You remember when I started getting into trouble back in LA? You thought I was running with a gang, but I wasn’t. A couple months after I turned fifteen, I started changing. I noticed that I was a lot stronger, faster, more aware than I’d ever been before. My hearing got super sharp, my vision and sense of smell got much better too. One day, I was at the mall and I bumped into a man. He knew me. He talked to me about the changes my body was going through.”
“It seems that in each generation, there is one girl Chosen by the Powers that Be to become their champion. This girl fights the powers of darkness: the vampires, the demons, assorted bad things. This girl is called the Slayer. She has all of the powers that I was developing, plus she has prophetic dreams. I began having the dreams not long after that man found me. He trained me to fight, mom. Because, I am the Slayer for my generation.”
“Oh Buffy! I thought you were over that delusion…” Joyce began.
Buffy held up her hand. “Let me finish, mom. You agreed.” Joyce nodded shakily and let her poor sick daughter continue her explanation.
“You thought I was getting into trouble because I was taking drugs and running with a bad crowd, but the truth is, I was hiding a secret identity from you and dad. I have never in my entire life done drugs. The bad crowd you thought I was running with? Those were vampires that I kill. I kill them every night, mom, and it isn’t just vamps. Sometimes its demons or things you never even knew existed outside the pages of horror novels. You wondered, I’m sure, why my clothes are always torn and bloody. Well, that’s why.”
“Merrick found me all those months ago. If he hadn’t I would have died at the hands of a master vampire called Lothos. We faced the monster and he almost had me, but Merrick stepped in and tried to stake him. Lothos turned his own stake back on him and stabbed him through the lung. He nearly bled to death before I could get him to a hospital. It took weeks to get him better.” She turned to the older Watcher and hugged him gently. “Merrick is my Watcher, mom. The Watcher is the person who trains the Slayer. When he was so wounded that he couldn’t train me anymore, he sent for his friend, Rupert Giles. Now Giles has taken over the duties as my Watcher. They moved to Sunnydale to be with me, to protect me and to train me. My life is becoming too complex to hide this from you anymore and we made the decision to tell you.”
Buffy stopped speaking and looked at her mother. “So you think you are this superhero, the, the Killer?” Joyce began.
“It’s the Slayer, mom.” Buffy corrected her.
“The Slayer. I see. And you think you knew Mr. Merrick back in LA?” Joyce asked desperately grasping at straws, hoping the two men would see how delusional her baby was and would assist Joyce in getting her help.
“Yes.” Buffy said.
“Oh, baby. Your sick, that’s all. None of that is real. We’ll get you some help and pretty soon you won’t believe all this stuff about vampires. They just aren’t real sweetheart. This is just in your head.” Joyce wanted to cry.
Merrick cleared his throat. “Actually, Mrs. Summers, Buffy is telling you the exact truth. Your daughter is the Slayer. She does fight the forces of darkness on a nightly basis. Rupert and I are her Watchers. Buffy is the one girl in all the world Called to fight demons, the vampires, and the forces of evil. She’s not crazy. We understand that you have a difficult time understanding this, but it’s really for the best that you come to understand your daughter’s birthright.”
Joyce looked from Merrick to Giles as if hoping for a voice of sanity. “Quite right, I’m afraid.” Giles told her seriously. “Our Buffy is a very brave girl and you should be very proud of her. She has already saved the world three times in the last two years. She is an exceptional Slayer and a very wonderful young woman.” He tightened his grasp around his love.
Joyce stood up and took a turn around the room. “I see. I think you had better leave. I need to get Buffy to a hospital and I think you two shouldn’t see her anymore. You’re obviously feeding her delusions. I knew it wasn’t healthy for her to associate with you two, but it didn’t seem actively harmful so I allowed it. I really thought Buffy was better, that we could start a new life in Sunnydale. My daughter is not going to be prey for two crazy men. Take your hands off her right now or I’ll call the police!”
“Mom. Calm down. I can prove I’m the Slayer. I’m not crazy. Rupert and John aren’t crazy either. They aren’t taking advantage of me, they save me from going crazy, if you want the truth.” She turned to Giles. “Do you have the bar?”
He nodded and pulled a steel bar an inch thick out of his bag. He handed it to Buffy. She stood up and walked to her mother, bar in hand. “Take a look at this, Mom. Examine it carefully so you know this isn’t a trick.”
Joyce took the bar and looked at it. “It’s a steel bar, Buffy. What am I supposed to see?”
Buffy took it away from her. “Just that it’s real.” She took the ends of the bar between her hands and bent it as if it were a shoestring. She effortlessly tied it in a knot and handed it back to her mother. The steel was warm where she had bent it.
Joyce gulped. “There are drugs…” She began.
“Actually, mom, there aren’t any drugs that allow a ninety-six pound girl to bend an inch thick bar of steel with no effort at all. Let’s go to the back yard. I can show you some other stuff.” They walked efficiently to the back yard. Buffy pointed to the garden bench that it had taken three men to install. “That bench weighs close to four hundred pounds, mom. There is no way a normal person, or even a person wigged on drugs could lift it. Do you agree?”
Joyce nodded blankly.
Buffy walked to the bench, picked it up under one arm and carried it around the yard before reseating it under the tree. Joyce staggered to the bench and collapsed on it. Buffy signaled Merrick to sit next to her.
“Giles and I are going to show you some of the fighting techniques that I’ve spent the last two years learning.”
Giles removed his jacket and they began circling each other. He attacked and Joyce could see he wasn’t holding back. Her hand rose to protest, but she was shocked to see Buffy begin pummeling him, moving so fast he couldn’t begin to counter all her blows. She blocked his and Joyce could hear the meaty smack of his fist as he let his full strength go against her daughter. Buffy wasn’t even phased. Within seconds, she knocked Giles down and pinned him to the ground, a stake pressed against his heart. Joyce had no idea where the stake had come from. It simply seemed to appear in her daughter’s hand.
Buffy put her stake away and helped Giles to his feet. She began a series of gymnastic displays that would have left a professional gymnast in awe. She finished up with a round of cartwheels around the yard that were so fast, her limbs blurred in their vision. She came to a halt in front of her mother. “Do you believe me now, Mom? Because I can do more if you want. I can go lift the car up, if you need more proof.”
Joyce frantically shook her head and looked almost terrified of her child. “N, no. No more. Please. I believe you.” She staggered slightly as she made her way back into the house. She went straight to the liquor cabinet and poured herself a stiff drink.
“S, so how do we get rid of this?” Joyce asked.
“Get rid of it?” Buffy laughed without humor. “There is no getting rid of it, Mom. I’m the Slayer till I die, well, till I die again anyhow.”
Joyce looked up at her words. Buffy waved vaguely at the school. “I got into a bad fight with a master vampire a few months ago. He drowned me. Xander revived me with CPR. Most Slayers don’t live very long lives. The longest is, what, Giles, ten years after being called?”
He nodded with a sad face.
“So, I pretty much expect to be killed whenever I go into battle. It’s a job hazard. Merrick says I’ll go to Heaven on the fast track, though, so I guess that’s an advantage.” She tried to sound chipper about it, but wasn’t terribly successful.
Joyce began to cry; deep, heart-wrenching sobs that seemed to be pulled from her soul. Both men stood back from her, arms hanging helplessly at their sides. They only knew to comfort Buffy and had no experience at it with other women. Buffy stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her mother. “Shhh. It’s OK, mom. You get used to it.”
When Joyce had cried herself out, she went and washed her face. In twenty minutes she was back and sitting calmly in the chair. Giles had taken the liberty of fixing tea for all of them and brought her a cup heavily sweetened. She grimaced as she sipped it, but appreciated the warmth it provided. Her hands were cold as ice.
“Why do I get the feeling that there’s more you want to tell me?” Joyce said, proud her voice didn’t waver, at least too badly.
Buffy sighed. “Well, probably because there is more.” She rubbed her face tiredly. “Part of being the Slayer means that some things are taken out of your hands. Slayers don’t have a lot of choices actually left up to them, it seems. Most Slayers are raised by their Watchers. I was unusual because Merrick didn’t find me till I was nearly grown. He chose to leave me with you.”
Joyce looked at the older man then back to her child, not understanding. “But, but you’re my daughter. How could they simply take you?”
Buffy huffed a little. “The Powers that Be usually arrange these things, I understand. For some reason, they wanted me with you. I’m not going to question it.” She looked at Giles and held her hand out. He stepped forward and took it in his. “Anyhow mom, one of the things that the Slayer has no control over is falling in love. The Powers pick out a mate for her. My mate has already been chosen, you see. We are bound by magic. There’s no way to fight it and really, you don’t want to after a while.”
“W, who is your m, mate then?” Joyce asked with trepidation.
Buffy jerked her head at Giles. “Him.”
Joyce, who felt she really couldn’t be shocked any more, was deeply taken aback by this latest revelation. “B, but he’s gay!”
Buffy chuckled. “No, he’s not. It’s a cover. Merrick isn’t gay either.” She told her mom.
“Are you sure?” Joyce asked.
“Uh huh.” Buffy confirmed. “Definitely not gay.”
Joyce looked at her suspiciously. “And you know this how?”
Buffy blushed. “No man can kiss a girl like that and be thinking about another man, mom.”
Giles blushed himself. He forced himself to make eye-contact with Mrs. Summers. “B, Buffy is correct, ma’am. I am not gay and neither is John. We simply couldn’t think of a better disguise for needing to be around Buffy constantly.”
“There’s something else you need to know, mom. Gi-Rupert and I are engaged. Probably we’ll need to get married before I turn eighteen and I’m going to need your permission to get the license.”
“Buffy…” Joyce began. “You are only seventeen. That’s way to young to be thinking about anything as permanent as marriage and Mr. Giles is much too old for you anyway.”
Buffy shrugged. “It’s not like I have a choice mom. Slayers experience increased sex drives and it’s getting harder to stay away from him every day. Exercise helps but I’m running thirty miles a day now. I don’t know how much more I can do before it gets away from me.”
Giles put his hand on her shoulder and drew her back against him protectively. Joyce narrowed her eyes at this gesture. “I love Buffy with every cell, every fiber of my body, Mrs. Summers. We share a Bond, a magic-enhanced union of souls. Buffy will be my wife, but I already belong to her.”
“A, and you need my permission to marry my under-age daughter?” Joyce clarified.
“Exactly. Buffy and I will be together soon, with or without the marriage. We can’t help it. The Powers that Be want this union very much to call Buffy to it so young.” Giles explained, his stutter gone completely for this essential revelation.
“So, magic is real and who the Hell are these Powers that Be? My head hurts.” She told them looking at her daughter. “W, would you be living with him? With them?” she asked, waving her hand at the two Watchers.
Buffy nodded. “Yes. Really, it would be much safer for you as well.”
Joyce looked outraged. “Don’t make this about my safety.”
Buffy shrugged. “It’s not. It’s just a benefit. My destiny takes everything, mom. It took my skating, my grades, and my peace-of-mind. It’s taken my freedom, my life as a normal girl, my hope for a long life. I don’t want it to take you too.”
Giles looked stricken at her words. He knew she resented her calling but she had never been quite so explicit before. She looked up and saw his face. “On the plus side, it’s given me the love and devotion of men like Rupert and John. That helps so much, mom.”
Joyce looked at the pair of them and tried to take in the enormity of what had been revealed to her. She poured herself another drink and offered the bottle to Giles and Merrick who both accepted shots. “I guess we had better plan a wedding then.” She said in a resigned voice. “But I also want to know a whole bunch more about this Slayer business. Mr. Merrick, that will be your job.” She gave him a look that commanded his attention.
“Of course, Mrs. Summers. I shall put myself at your disposal. I have a great many books and journals dealing with Slayers and I would be happy to share them with you.” He gave her a small bow and coughed lightly.
Instantly Buffy was at his side, arm around his waist. “Sit down, Merrick. You know you’ve been overdoing it lately.” She guided him to the couch and made him sit. He smiled at her tenderly.
“You’re a good girl, Buffy. Perhaps you wouldn’t mind getting me a glass of water?” He told her.
“Right away.” She leaped up and went to the kitchen. While she was there she filled a pitcher with cool water and ice and put extra glasses for everybody on a tray.
Merrick used the opportunity of her absence to tell Joyce not to pressure Buffy in any way. “She is extremely fragile right now. She’s still fighting the bond with Rupert and her destiny as the Slayer. Any distraction from her duty could kill her.”
Joyce nodded. “All right. But I want to be involved in my daughter’s life.”
Both men conceded her point and then Buffy returned to the room so they dropped the topic. They talked well into the early afternoon. Finally, Buffy looked at the clock and exclaimed that it was no wonder she was starving. Giles smiled and offered to pay for take-out if she would call the order in. She grinned at him and ordered what seemed like enough food for about eight hungry people. It arrived and Giles moaned at the bill but paid it with good humor.
Joyce watched him. “I guess I should ask if you have the financial wherewithal to support my daughter, Mr. Giles.”
He smiled. “That, at least, will not be a problem. I have the rather meager income from my teaching job, my income as a Watcher, a family inheritance, quite a few investments, plus I do a bit of consulting on the side. Buffy will never be without resources. Should I predecease her, everything I own will go to her.”
Buffy was embarrassed at the talk of money, but Joyce wasn’t done. “And will you have children?” She asked him.
He looked down and then directly into Buffy’s eyes. “That isn’t possible, I’m afraid. I had a vasectomy when John contacted me to come be Buffy’s Watcher. A pregnant Slayer is as good as dead and I would never put her in the position of needing to choose between saving the world or her child.”
Buffy bit her lip. They hadn’t talked about kids but now that the subject had been raised, she found she did want to talk about it. “So, even that decision is taken away from me, Giles?”
“I’m sorry, Buffy. I hoped you would never ask.” He admitted to her. “Did you want children?”
She thought about it. “I guess I wanted the idea, more that the actual fact, if that makes sense. The potential. I know in my head that I shouldn’t ever have them. I mean, how fair is it to have children knowing you’ll never live to see them grow up, maybe not to even see them walk. But it’s still a blow.”
He put his arm around her. “I know it is. I’m so sorry that you had to find out this way. I wish it could be different for you.”
She leaned into him and rested her head on his chest. “No. ‘S’ OK. Really, I mean in the scheme of things, this is minor. I’m too young to have kids right now and by the time I’d be old enough, I’ll be dead, so don’t worry about it, OK?” She rubbed his back, comforting him.
He felt his heart swell with love for this brave girl. Everything was taken from her and she still pressed on. “I love you, Buffy.”
She pressed her face into his shirt collar. “I know.” She held him.
Eventually, Merrick stood and said they needed to head home. He turned to Buffy. “Would you care to have the evening off from patrolling?”
She looked up at him with a huge grin on her face. “Thanks, Merrick. That would be great.”
He chucked her under the chin. “You need to rest and stay home. No gallivanting off to the Bronze.”
She solemnly shook her head. “No Bronze.”
Giles pulled her around to look at him. “No Bronze.” He admonished soundly. “No boys! Remember what I told you last night.”
She pouted at him prettily, but he looked stern. “Oh, all right! Geez, a little magic and a guy thinks he owns you! Sheesh!” She leaned into him and kissed him soundly on the lips. “Don’t worry, Giles. I know who I belong to.”
He rested his forehead against hers and grinned. Merrick took him by the arm. “We’ll see you tomorrow, Buffy.”
“Bye!” She called before plopping down on the couch. She looked at her mom. “So?”
“Wow!” Joyce said with a shake of her head. “Wow!”
“Yeah. I kinda felt like that at first too.” Buffy confided.
“Tell me how you really feel about marrying Mr. Giles.” Joyce demanded.
Buffy sighed. “It’s him or Merrick, mom. I took the young guy. Besides, he’s cute.”
Joyce nodded. “Very. Tall, too.”
Smiling, Buffy nodded. “Nice butt.”
“I saw that.” Joyce admitted. “I like his hair.”
“Me too. When he’s really ticked off or stressed he takes his glasses off and cleans them like mad. It’s too cute.”
“Does he get mad often?” Joyce wanted to know.
“I drive him right up the wall.” Buffy told her mother some stories about her adventures with Giles and Joyce was laughing fit to be tied by the time the afternoon stretched into the early evening.
“…so then, Giles slipped in this pile of garbage. His feet went out from under him and he accidentally kicked the vampire in the groin as he went down. I got there in time to stake the vamp who was too busy holding his, uh, family jewels, to care. I turned to help Giles up and he actually had a banana peel on his head.” Buffy laughed remembering. “It was so funny.”
They laughed and went to the kitchen to prepare a light supper. “Oh my Gosh!” Joyce yelped. “What are we going to tell your father?”
“Yikes!” Buffy said. “I hadn’t even thought about dad. He sure doesn’t need to know about the Slaying, but maybe we should mention the marriage?”
“He is going to kill me if I let you have permission to marry at seventeen.” Joyce said glumly.
Buffy shrugged. “He lost the rights to make those kind of decisions when he decided that his secretary was more important than his wife and daughter. I mean, I love him and I always will, but he can’t know about my real life or anything and frankly, he doesn’t deserve to. Giles and Merrick will think of something. Maybe you’ve noticed they’re both super smart?”
“Yes, I was picking up on that.” Joyce said with a grin.
“Giles speaks five languages and can read a couple of others. Merrick speaks and reads who knows how many. They actually like to read if you can picture it.” Buffy shuddered. “They both want me to go to college. Other Slayers didn’t have to go to college. I don’t know why I always get to be the One.”
“Well, it’s a relief to me that they want you to go. Will you stay in Sunnydale?” Joyce asked.
“As far as I know, I’m here for life. It would be great if the Hellmouth closed and all this went away but…” She tapered off at her mother’s look. “What?”
“Hellmouth?” Joyce questioned.
“Oh, yeah. We live on a mystical convergence thingy that is literally a door into Hell. It’s what draws the baddies here. Uh, while we’re on the topic, NEVER invite anybody into the house. It’s a vamp thing. They can’t come in without an invite.” She bit her lip in thought. “Demons don’t need to be invited. They can just break down your door. Mostly, they leave you alone unless they want to eat you, though, mostly. Vamps are afraid of crosses—Giles says all Holy symbols work because they represent the powers of Light. Some vamps are so powerful they can overpower you even if you have a cross though, so don’t trust only in that. I always have stakes on hand. You might want to start carrying a squirt gun filled with Holy Water. I have a spare cross you can have. Oh! I forgot to show you my engagement present from Giles.” She pulled out the magnificent cross. Check this out.”
Joyce drooled over the piece of jewelry. “I guess he must be able to take care of you if he can afford gifts like this. I don’t want to scare you, but that thing is probably worth more than this house.”
Buffy sighed. “I know. I told him it should be worn by some beautiful aristocrat and he said that when I put it on it would be. It was so sweet.” She looked down at the cross. “It’s magic too. It won’t come off until I die. I won’t be able to pass it on to my children. I wonder if he’ll bury me in it?”
Joyce shuddered. “How can you be so calm about it?”
Buffy flipped her hair back with a shake of her head. “What choice do I have? I know this vampire who had his soul restored. Willow asked him why he wasn’t more sorry about all the bad stuff he’d done when he was evil and he said you could only do so much breast-beating. It made a lot of sense. I wish I was taller, but I figure a growth spurt probably isn’t in my future. I wish I could live to be old, but there you go. You just deal after a while.”
Joyce nodded. “I don’t know if I can be that cavalier about it.”
Buffy patted her shoulder. “You learn to cope. Don’t think about it too much, but make every moment count.”
They ate in silence till Joyce looked up at her daughter. “When are you going to marry Mr. Giles?”
“I don’t know. I’m trying really hard to wait, but I’m starting to wonder why? He loves and wants me.” Buffy looked at her hands. “I think I may be in love with him too. I know for sure I love him. He tried to die for me, you know? Tried to go fight the Master in my place. I had to knock him out. That’s kind of a big gesture to make for a girl.”
Joyce agreed. “Pretty impressive. So, you want to shop for a wedding dress tomorrow?”
“Might as well, I guess.”