Title: The Assistant, part 55
Author: Sweetdoggie (stirling_summer@yahoo.com)
Pairing: B/G
Rating: R
Summary: Adjusting to the idea
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.
The Scoobies were excited by the thought of a baby. Buffy frowned at them and watched as Giles and Willow poured over baby books. Xander treated her like she was suddenly made of glass. Every time she looked at him, he was staring at her stomach as if he expected it to explode outwards a’ la Alien.
Faith was worse, in her own way. She looked at Buffy with deep pity in her eyes. The younger girl had long ago given up the battle to be normal and had always found Buffy’s desire to be so, vaguely baffling, but even she had to admit that Buffy came in for far more than her share of Slayer weirdness. Faith loved Wesley, but she didn’t want to be bound to him with a child. The whole idea gave her major wiggins. All in all, she speculated, this made spending almost a year in a coma seem like not that bad a deal.
Giles, Buffy knew, hadn’t really come to terms with the situation. He was putting on a good show, reading books, studying, going through the motions, but she could tell that the reality of becoming a father hadn’t really struck home yet. He was treating the situation like any other Slayer manifestation and she knew that could only work for so long.
Merrick and Joyce were making plans to move back to the States, but were slowed down by the logistics of moving an entire household complete with infant, teenager, and spare Watcher. Buffy had prepared their suite of rooms for them, airing the furniture and dusting unused items so that when they finally did return, they could move right in with no fuss.
Strangely enough, it was with Wesley that Buffy found the most compatible compromise for her situation. He researched night and day looking for any bit of knowledge that might help. The younger Watcher more or less ignored the baby research and couldn’t understand Rupert’s deep fascination. Buffy could have told him it was a massive case of self-misdirection, but she didn’t bother.
When she was three months pregnant, the doctor decided that she should have an ultrasound to check on the progress of the fetus. Giles and the Scoobies were excited. There was a distinct possibility that the sex of the baby could be determined with this test. Buffy herself was ambivalent. All she could think of was six more months of enforced coddling. It was enough to drive her nearly ‘round the bend.
Giles took her for the ultrasound appointment. She lay on the cold vinyl table and watched the nurse smear some sort of clear goop on her slightly mounded belly. In a very few minutes, she showed them the fetal heart, beating rapidly. When she pointed out the tiny hands and feet, even Buffy admitted it was awesome. Giles, deeply excited at the initial phases grew more and more quiet as the test went on. By the time the nurse finished up, he was white as a sheet. Buffy got dressed and actually had to help him out of the office.
“I owe you an apology, Buffy. I’ve been very cavalier about all this. But seeing that heart beating, those tiny hands, it suddenly hit me. This isn’t a theoretical exercise. We’re going to be parents. I’m going to be a father. I don’t know if I’m ready for this. I feel ill.”
Buffy patted him on the back and drove him home again. He went off into his study to brood and she went to the kitchen to make herself a snack, smiling. He was finally getting it and she wasn’t above a little gloating.
Later that evening, Willow and Xander stopped by to ask if Buffy wanted to party with them at the Bronze. Since Giles was still in his pre-parental funk, Buffy agreed happily. Wesley and Faith, patrolling together that night, escorted them to the club before leaving them at the door. Giles sat at home wondering how his life had gotten to this point. He was going to be a father. It had all been theoretical before. Now, suddenly, it was real or perhaps surreal was a better definition.
As he watched the sun go down, he suddenly had an urge to go out. Looking through his closet, he found his old leather jacket. He slipped it on and walked out the front door. After wandering aimlessly around Sunnydale for a while, he ended up in a bar near the edge of town. After ordering whiskey, he leaned back and surveyed the room. He paid no attention to the man who came up beside him till he spoke.
“Ripper? What on earth are you doing hanging about in bars? I thought your little Slayer kept you on a tighter leash.”
Giles looked up, surprised and not really displeased. “Ethan? I suppose you’re in Sunnydale again to do some mischief.”
“Ripper, you wound me. I’m only passing through on my way to LA.”
“And you expect me to believe that?”
“It’s entirely up to you. Buy you a drink?”
Throwing caution to the winds, Giles nodded his acceptance.
“So, what have you been up to lately, Ripper?”
“Well, Buffy killed some sort of super-enhanced human/demon hybrid a few months ago. Other than that, things have been rather slow.”
“Not the Slayer, old man. You. What have you been doing?”
Giles looked at him, thought for a moment and then gave in to the desire to tell somebody, even Ethan about his situation.
“Actually, it turns out that I’m going to be a father in about six months.”
“What? I thought the Council had you neutered years ago.”
“They make field Watchers get vasectomies. It’s hardly equivalent to neutering. At any rate, mine failed.”
“So, who did you knock up then?”
“Buffy.”
“You got your Slayer pregnant? Were you under a spell or something? Why were you even having sex with her?”
Giles looked surprised. “I thought you knew? I married her several years ago.”
Ethan laughed till his sides hurt. “Ripper Giles, married with a child on the way. This is too much!”
Giles tried to look indignant but had to settle for mildly embarrassed. “You’re my oldest friend. You could at least pretend to be happy for me.”
“Are we still friends, old man?”
“Aren’t we? I know you’re bent on mischief, but you--you’ve never been evil.”
“I’m a worshiper of Chaos, Ripper. You know that I can favor neither the light nor the dark.”
“It’s such a bloody waste of your talents, Ethan. You could have been a field Watcher like me. You could be helping girls like Buffy to live their lives. It’s not too late, you could join us.”
Ethan looked pityingly at his old friend. “I’d never let the Council emasculate me like they have you, Rupert. You used to be strong; a magic user, a sorcerer, powerful and secure. The Council turned you into a stammering, tweed-clad drone, content to work in a high school library in a country that barely considers reading a necessary skill. Why don’t you come away with me? Leave this dreary job and these tedious children and come back to England.”
“This is my home now, Ethan. I chose to become a Watcher because I saw that the Light needs its warriors. If you got to know Buffy, you’d fall in love with her. Look at her aura, Eth. It absolutely shines. And now she’s mine. I love her and we’re going to have a child. I never thought any of that would be possible. I had nothing and then, suddenly, I had everything. It makes a man think.”
“It does, that,” Ethan nodded. The Chaos mage was stunned and rather horrified. His life-long friend was turning into a middle-aged family man right before his eyes. It made him want to weep and hit things. This pathetic creature wasn’t his Ripper, the boy and young man who would do anything on a dare; no, this creature in front of him was nothing more than a slave, a serf toiling on his master’s fief. He needed to be shaken from his slide into mediocrity. There had to be a way…