Title: The Assistant, part 33
Author: Sweetdoggie
Email: (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: R
Summary: More about the Initiative
Spoilers: season 4
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.
Thanksgiving rolled around rapidly and the Scoobies put their plans on hold while Buffy and Giles prepared to go to England. They would be in close meetings with the Council while they were there so it could be considered a business trip. Buffy had called a meeting of her demon allies to explain what was going on. They got the word out on the streets that activity was to be kept to a strict minimum while the Slayer was gone. Nobody wanted to break the pact that would stop the Initiative.
Buffy was desperately excited. She was going to see her mom, her Watcher-step dad, and her baby brother as well as meeting her newest slayer sister, with the added benefit of seeing Rupert’s home. Her energy level was so high at the airport, Giles wondered if he should have given her Valium.
The flight from LA to London was direct and took almost eleven hours not including boarding, waiting around interminably for take off and endlessly circling Heathrow waiting for permission to land. Buffy got motion sick and spent most of her time sleeping off the Dramamine the steward had provided. Giles, long inured to the rigors of international travel simply napped.
They deplaned finally, so stiff they could barely move. Buffy was still feeling queasy and that, combined with her excitement level made her seek out the nearest restroom after landing to vomit in. Giles secretly vowed to obtain some form of tranquilizer for the return trip. Walking into the waiting area, they scanned the faces of what seemed to be hundreds of people.
“Merrick!” Buffy screamed when she saw him. She pushed her way through the crowd and threw herself into his open arms. “I’ve missed you so much!”
The elder Watcher felt tears in his eyes. This girl was so special and he had missed her desperately. He loved Joyce and the baby and even his newest little Slayer, but Buffy was his in a way that no one else could ever be.
Giles finally made his way through the mob and John released Buffy long enough to shake his hand and pat him on the back. Buffy was content to walk between them, her arms wrapped tightly through theirs.
Luggage was retrieved and they made their way to the waiting car. “Are you hungry?” John asked them. “We can stop for a bite to eat if you wish.”
Buffy looked green and Giles hastily informed the older man that food, or the mention thereof was probably not in their best interests right now. Merrick looked sympathetic and changed the topic to the Initiative.
Buffy let Giles do the talking as she looked out the windows at her first sight of a foreign country. She was most struck by the age of everything. Used to living in a part of the country where something twenty years old was an antique, seeing buildings that were hundreds of years old still in use was a vast surprise. What next impressed her was the tinyness of everything, how close everything was to something else. The drive to Merrick’s house took three hours because of traffic, but getting there was worth it when they pulled up and Joyce came running out of the house with the baby in her arms.
She stopped two feet from her daughter and just gazed at her face. “Oh, Buffy! I’m so happy to see you.”
Stepping forward, Buffy enfolded her mom gently in her arms taking care not to jostle the baby. “Mommy, I missed you so much!”
`Oh, baby. Oh my little girl!” They stood hugging each other, the baby between them for five minutes.
Finally, Buffy released her and looked down into the small face of the baby. “So, this is my little brother, huh?”
Joyce passed her the baby. “Wow. Not much heft,” Buffy commented. She wasn’t used to infants or children in general. “He looks like John.”
Her mom grinned. “Good thing he doesn’t look like the milk man, I suppose.”
Buffy looked around. “Where’s my new Slayer sis?”
“She should be home from school in a few minutes. She was so excited this morning that she wanted to stay home. I told her that staying home wouldn’t make you come any sooner. She was not a happy camper.”
“How’s that working out for you, mom? I mean, raising another daughter who’s a Slayer?”
“It’s weird, to tell the truth. I love Anna, she’s a great kid and she’s really proud of being a Slayer. She can’t wait till she’s old enough and tough enough to go to Sunnydale and help out her big sister.” Joyce shook her head. `It frightens me to have both my girls be Slayers but you can protect each other. And when Faith gets well, it will be the three of you.”
“Three Slayers, no waiting!” Buffy chuckled. “We are gonna kick some serious Evil Butt when we get together!”
Joyce chucked and rolled her eyes. Giles and Merrick walked up to them and escorted them into the house. Buffy held the baby and played with his tiny feet. “Gosh, Rupert, look how tiny he is!”
Giles took the child and held him carefully against his chest. “Who’s the little man, then?” he cooed. “Who’s our wittle baby Watcher?”
Buffy controlled the urge to laugh at his antics. Giles would have made an excellent father. Too bad that choice had been taken away from him. They heard the front door slam open and closed and a tiny dark haired girl skipped into the room. She hugged Joyce and Merrick and then stood shyly looking at Buffy with eyes as big as saucers. She was clearly in Slayer-worship mode.
Buffy stood up and opened her arms to the child. “I’m Buffy and you must be Anna, my new sister.”
The younger girl ran at her and enveloped her in a hug using a great deal of Slayer strength. The non-Slayers in the room cringed at the unwitting show of strength from both girls.
“I have wanted so much to meet you, Buffy. Mom has told me so much about you.”
Buffy grinned down at her. “Likewise, kiddo. I can’t wait for you guys to come home. Wait till you meet Faith, our other sister. We are so gonna rock!”
They talked excitedly for twenty minutes comparing notes before Merrick told Anna to take Buffy upstairs and show her around.
“And for heaven’s sake, Child, give her a chance to unpack before you go dragging her off on patrol.”
Joyce took the baby back from Giles and made a point of leaving the two men alone. Rupert sat back on the couch with a sigh.
“How have things been on the Hellmouth, Rupert? Are you and Buffy settling down to married life?”
“We are definitely doing better than we were for a while, John. I was a complete and total ass about something rather important and I hurt Buffy’s feelings deeply.”
John sat up, instantly alert at any threat to his beloved Buffy. “What happened?”
Giles sighed but confessed the stupid mistake he had made with Olivia and her interpretation of events in his life.
“You bloody fool!” John was beside himself with anger.
“I know. There is nothing you could say to me that will make me feel any worse than I already do.”
“I could thrash you, you young fool! Why in God’s name would you give a damn about Olivia’s opinion of you when you have the best, the brightest star, the greatest gift in your arms every night?”
Giles rubbed his face tiredly. “Because I’m a fool. I remember how I felt when I was even older than Buffy is now about men my age chasing young women. Liv and I laughed about it. There, there was a girl we knew who deliberately dated older men, slept with them, took their money, their gifts and came back to us and laughed about their pathetic old bodies. About how they pawed her and how some of them even cried when she dumped them to move on to richer prey. One man killed himself over her. Others left their wives and families… I swore I would never become that pathetic and yet here I am twenty years later, so in love with a girl half my age I can’t sleep without her.”
“Rupert, what you share with your Slayer is nothing akin to that sort of thing and you know it.”
“I do know it, John, but that didn’t stop me from fearing it or from not wanting to look pathetic to a friend I’ve known for twenty years.”
The older man rubbed his face tiredly. “You know I was forming the bond with Buffy before I was injured?”
Giles nodded.
“I’m forty years older than her. Forty years, Rupert. Did you think it never occurred to me how people would react? That I’d never seen the kind of response you and Liv had? It wouldn’t have mattered a jot to me because Buffy was mine. Do you think it was easy to know I’d never have her after the injury? How do you think I felt when the bond began forming with you? I could only stand it because I knew you would treat her well. Now, thank God, she is like my own daughter. If you hurt her, I’ll kill you.”
Buffy walked into the room as he finished speaking. He wouldn’t meet her eyes. She walked up to him and put her arms around him. “Merrick, it’s OK now. It’s OK. Rupert and I are good. I promise.”
Merrick turned and pulled the young woman into his arms. “I couldn’t bear it if you were hurt, Buffy. You should have happiness every minute of every day.”
She laughed. “Nobody deserves that, Merrick. I’m just a girl doing a job. I’m not any different than Faith or Anna or ten thousand other girls that have come before me.”
“Yes, you are different, love. None of those girls is you. You are not replaceable, not interchangeable. We love those other girls, but they weren’t our dearest Buffy.”
She kissed the top of his head. “Oh my Watcher! How much I love you.”
Giles watched her hug and kiss the older man and his bond flared. “Buffy is mine,” his voice was gruff.
She released Merrick and his hands fell away from where he had hugged her to him. She walked over to Rupert and ruffled his hair. “We know that, Sweetie. There is no need to get jealous.”
He pulled her into his arms, totally unable to help himself. “You belong to me.”
“Always and forever.” Buffy cupped his cheek softly before kissing him.
Finally he was able to sigh and release her. “Sorry, my love. I can’t help myself when it comes to you.”
“I know,” she stroked his brow.
Anna, unseen in the doorway had watched this display of possessiveness with some alarm. She was Council raised and knew about the bond she would hopefully form with whoever her permanent Watcher turned out to be, but this was frightening. She was only twelve, nearly thirteen now, but she still didn’t know if she wanted to be bound to a man like this. It made her feel uncomfortable in strange ways. She resolved to speak to Buffy about it later.
“Mom says supper’s ready,” she told them, stepping into the room.
As a tension breaker, it served its purpose and they all stood to follow the child out of the room.