Title: Love, Hellmouth Style 25-26
Author: Gileswench
Contact: gileswench@yahoo.com
Feedback: Constructive criticism always welcome. Praise abjectly sought.
Disclaimer: It all belongs to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc., etc., etc. I just let them have all the fun Joss won't. I own nothing except my twisted mind which you really don't want. Please don't sue.



"Yes, Willow, that's correct. He's my father." Giles turned to Cedric. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"I told you why I was here two...actually three days ago now. Where have you been all this time?"

Willow turned big eyes to Giles. "You didn't tell him?"

"It rather slipped my mind. What's more, I haven't time to discuss it just now. I'll thank you to leave."

Cedric Giles glared at his son and seated himself with great dignity in the easy chair.

"I'm not moving until I've said what I came here to say."

"Fine. We'll work around you, then. Willow, Cordelia, will you please move the sofa while we deal with the bed?"

The girls nodded and each grabbed and end of the couch as the three men trooped up to the loft.

The little band worked in relative silence and harmony, although each snuck glances at Cedric as they performed their appointed tasks. The old man glared in return. Everyone was curious, but all knew better than to try to get Giles to tell them what was going on at this point. Nobody wanted to be the one to unleash Ripper.

At last the group had finished. They took a moment to survey their handiwork.

"All the comforts of home on one floor. Of course, having the bed in the middle of the living room is a decorating idea Martha Stewart would not approve of. Still, not bad."

"Oh come on, Willow. Martha would approve if it were her sheets on the bed. She'd say she invented it then." Cordelia smoothed a corner of the quilt as she spoke.

Xander merely looked at Wesley and remarked: "The women, they speak in tongues. Speaking of which, I'm off to procure lunch for my woman, and possibly Will's. See you all later."

"Thank you for your help, Xander."

"No prob, Big G."

Cordelia looked pointedly at her boyfriend. "Lunch. Now that sounds like an idea whose time has come."

"Of course. Willow, Giles, would you care to join us?"

"Um, sure, if it's okay."

"No thank you, Wesley. I'll need to leave soon to get Buffy."

"Well make sure you eat, Giles. Taking care of a housebound Slayer is gonna take a lot of fueling. Come on, Willow. Tell me about this girlfriend of yours."

Cordelia linked arms with her lover and her former rival and propelled them out the door.

The Giles men regarded one another coldly.

"I see you still associate with homosexuals."

"Willow's sexual preference is none of your business."

"Is your Slayer aware of your...proclivities?"

"My wife. Buffy is not merely my Slayer, she's my wife. Get used to it and get out."

"So you haven't told her. She must have found the wedding night disappointing."

"That's hardly any of your concern."

"And so the Giles line dies with this generation. Between you and your sister, a proud family has been brought to its end."

Despite his best efforts, Giles' lips twitched into a small smile.

"I wouldn't say that. Buffy's pregnant."

*****

It was a slow day at the Magic Box. Tara and Anya sat themselves down at the tarot table when Xander arrived with burritos for lunch. As they ate, they discussed Giles' father.

"I couldn't believe it was Giles. He was so...so...mean. I've never seen Giles just be mean before."

"Could it be some form of possession? 'Cause Giles and mean? Those two words don't really go together."

Anya rolled her eyes at the other two.

"Giles isn't possessed. He just hates his father."

"Anya! That's a terrible thing to say."

The former demon sighed and started over.

"Xander, do you like your father?"

The young man looked uncomfortable as he shrugged his shoulders.

"You don't. He's drunken and he says nothing but cruel things to you that aren't true. And Tara's father tried to convince her she wasn't human and that that was a bad thing just so she would go with him and do his housework until she's old and wrinkly and no one would want to be with her."

"Okay, so we don't have nice fathers. Your point, An?"

"And then look at Buffy and Willow. Their fathers don't even seem to remember they had children. But you all talk about your fathers."

"So?"

"If Giles never mentions his father, what must he have done to Giles?"

*****

"Pregnant? How?"

"You know perfectly well how, or I wouldn't be here, would I?"

"Who is the father?"

"I am."

"A very likely story. The truth will out, you know."

"It certainly did with you, didn't it?"

"I can only be grateful that your mother isn't alive to hear you speak this way to me."

Giles swallowed hard, his fists clenching tightly.

"Get out before I forget myself entirely and throw you out."

One look at the steel in his son's eyes convinced Cedric to leave under his own power. Still, he couldn't resist one final taunt as he departed.

"It won't work." He swept his eyes up and down his heir. "God knows it didn't for me."

Giles slammed the door after his father.

"Bastard!" he spat. "Bloody, sodding bastard!"

*****

"Are you sure it's okay, Mom? Maybe if I just sit quietly and promise not to get up, I could stay."

"Really, Buffy, there's no need. It's just a test. Crystal will be here, and Rupert said he would stop by and keep her company once he got you settled in at home. I don't even know if I'll get the results today."

"I know all that, it's just...I want to be here for you."

"Well right now, it's more important that you take care of yourself than your old Mom."

Buffy rolled her eyes.

"You're not old. Face it, you're younger than my husband and he's not old, so you don't get to be either."

"Ah, so there is an advantage to me in my daughter taking the only eligible man in Sunnydale off the market."

"Please! There's other eligible men. You might just have to go out into the world to find them, but they're there."

The two shared a companionable laugh. When it ended, both looked sober.

"I wish I could be here for you, Mom. But I'll be worrying about you from home, and making Rupert call me every two minutes with an update."

"Stop worrying so much. It's probably nothing at all."

"Mom, worry is my job. Just remember you have to stick around to help spoil my kid. Y'know, to make life difficult on me."

"It's not like I'm dying, Buffy. I plan on making your life difficult for decades to come."

"Promise?"

Joyce held up three fingers.

"Girl Scout's honor."

*****

"So did anybody else get the feeling Giles doesn't like his father very much?"

Willow and Wesley both agreed with their luncheon companion.

"I've never seen him like that before. And he's been mad at me lots of times when I get a spell wrong or something."

"Certainly when I first arrived in Sunnydale we had something of a battle of wills, but he was never like that. In fact, the only time I've ever seen such cold-blooded fury from him was..."

"When he skewered the mayor. But...but the mayor had just threatened Buffy."

All three looked at one another in horror.

"Okay, so I'm guessing we're all thinking the same thing again? That this guy's bad news for Buffy?"

"I fear so, Cordelia. Willow, are you still proficient in the art of hacking?"

"As ever. I'll see if I can break into the Council's files tonight. Which reminds me, I've got a class coming up so I'd better go to it. I'll find out everything I can about Mr. Giles after."

"And I'll ring up a couple of contacts I have left. If there is any danger to Buffy we must find out quickly and deal with it. She's in a very vulnerable state at present."

"See, that's why I'm thinking motherhood may not be for me at all. I mean you lose your figure and then you've got this rug rat you have to take care of and it puts you in danger all the time."

The other two stared at Cordelia.

"What? In our line of work, we have to think carefully about these things. If we just let it happen any old way, we're in big trouble. Not that either of you have to worry. Guys and lesbians have it so easy."

The dark-haired girl snatched up the bill and headed for the cashier.

*****

Giles wouldn't let Buffy walk from the street to their apartment. Instead, he carried her, despite her half-hearted protests. Once inside, her jaw dropped.

"Oh my God. I don't believe it."

"Believe it, luv. I'll not have you trying to take the stairs, nor will I allow you to become too bored. I've plenty to deal with already."

He smiled teasingly at her and kissed her cheek as he laid her down on the bed and tucked her in.

"But...you moved the bookshelves and put in a big TV. Since when do we have a big TV?"

"Since this morning. Also a DVD player and a collection of movies to keep you entertained. I know this is hard on you, sweetheart. The least I could do was try to make it as painless as possible."

"So they really are real."

"What are?"

"Prince Charmings. I know 'cause I married one."

PART 26

When Spike awoke at sunset, he shook his head to clear away the fog of the nightmare he'd been having.

It didn't work.

He had to be bloody dreaming. This couldn't be real.

That...that music, if you could call it that, was painful to his ears.

Barry Sodding Manilow.

Sweat poured off Spike's brow as he struggled to move to the stereo and take off that aural treacle. He desperately needed to hear the Sex Pistols or at least the Ramones. Unfortunately, the fact that his wrists had been handcuffed to the headboard was making it impossible to change the situation.

The enraged vampire growled and slid into game face.

"Harm! You bloody bint!"

"So you're awake. Good."

"Stop this game, Harm, or I'll..."

"Or what Spikey? What are you gonna do? Call for the Slayer to save you? She never will, y'know. Besides, I've got you totally trapped. There's no escape."

Spike bit back the whimper forming in his throat.

"Will you at least turn off that sodding Barry Manilow bilge. If it makes me spew, you're the one who'll have to clear away the mess."

"Eeew! That's disgusting! But okay. Parker, turn off the Manilow album."

Spike breathed an unnecessary sigh of relief as the vapid strains of Mandy ceased. Harmony smirked.

"Put on the John Tesh album."

*****

Buffy was bored. Even with movies, a copious supply of healthy snacks by her side, and the latest issue of Cosmo, she wanted to scream with frustration.

If this was how she felt after one afternoon, how was she going to deal with several weeks of enforced inactivity?

Swallowing the urge to howl, she picked up the book Giles had left her on pregnancy. When he got back, he would expect that she'd done some research. She put it back down again. It wasn't that she didn't want to know and understand what was happening in her body, she just didn't see why he couldn't do the reading and give her the Reader's Digest version. It always seemed to work with demons and prophecies.

Turning to the snacks Giles had left her, she picked up a banana. Then she put it down again. She really needed to wash her brain out with soap. There was no other explanation for her sudden urge to give a piece of fruit a blow job.

How many more weeks before she could have sex?

Would she be able to go that long without the help of a straight jacket and padded walls?

*****

"I'm in."

The rest of the assembled Scoobies gathered around Willow.

"I'm looking for the files on Watchers now. What was Giles' father's name again?"

"Cedric. He was the active Watcher of a Slayer sometime in the 1950's."

Wesley leaned in closer to the redhead.

"Okay, here he is. Cedric Giles. Born 1928 in London. Married Lilian Fraser in 1949. Two children, Rupert...and I won't even tell you the middle names 'cause they're both really embarrassing, and Gertrude Alice Mary. Given the Slayer Angelina in 1952. Isn't that a little young to be given a Slayer?"

"That is unusually young, but the Giles family has always held great power on the Council, until recently. Perhaps his mother was able to sway a few minds in the upper reaches of the organization.

"What else does it say, Will?"

"Just a minute, Xander. Here we go. Oh. Angelina died in 1954. Pretty early in the year. After that, Mr. Giles stayed with the Council, but none of these jobs look like anything important. I wonder why."

"Does it say how Angelina died?"

"Nope. A big fat nothing on that."

"Could it have been the Crucimantium?" Wesley began to pace the room.

"I don't think so. Her eighteenth birthday wasn't for another couple months. Why wouldn't it say how she died?"

"Do they list causes of death for other Slayers?"

Everyone looked startled at Anya.

"Why wouldn't they?" Tara spoke for everyone.

"I don't know. But before you start thinking there's something funny going on because you can't find a cause of death for Angelina, don't you think it would be a good idea to find out if it's really unusual?"

"Vengeance girl does have a point. No dress sense, but a point."

"Perhaps, Cordelia, we could dispense with the fashion review and concentrate on the issue at hand. And Anya is correct. See if you can find a cause of death listed for any other Slayer and what happened to her Watcher afterwards."

Willow went back to her typing.

*****

Giles let himself into the apartment just in time to see a flash of Slayer diving under the bedclothes.

"Buffy! What were you doing out of bed?"

"I had to go to the bathroom. Is that okay with you?"

"Then why were you in such a hurry to get back into bed? You shouldn't try to move that quickly yet. You haven't even got the stitches out from your surgery."

"I was rushing because I knew you'd get all bent out of shape if I was out of bed when you got home. And you did." She punched her pillow with more energy than was good for it. A cloud of feathers erupted and scattered across the room.

"I'm sorry, Buffy. I know this is hard on you..."

"How do you know? How can you possibly know what this is like for me? You're not the one stuck lying in bed all day by yourself with nothing to do but watch movies and get really kinky ideas about fruit. You can go places and do things and fight evil like you're supposed to, but I have to just lie here while other people do my job and maybe get killed doing it. I can't train, I can't go to classes, I can't patrol, I can't even pee without making you go all Spanish Inquisition on me! I wish I'd never..."

She stopped, horrified at what she'd been about to say. Giles sat and took her hand in his.

"What, Buffy? You wish you'd never what?"

"Nothing. I wasn't gonna say anything."

Giles gathered Buffy to his chest and rocked her gently.

"Whatever you were going to say, it's all right. I know you hate being cooped up like this. And I'm sorry I had to leave you alone. I'll do my best not to let that happen again."

"It's just...I'm the Slayer. I've been the Slayer since I was fifteen. Now I can't slay." She looked up at her husband with tear-stained cheeks. "Rupert, if I'm not the Slayer, who am I?"

"You are the Slayer. You're just taking a bit of a sabbatical is all."

"So who am I for now?"

"Who am I?"

"Huh?"

"Who am I, Buffy?"

"Don't be silly. You're Rupert."

"I used to be a Watcher."

"Not just a Watcher. The best Watcher in the world."

"And yet, I'm no longer a Watcher."

"Yes you are. Council or no council, you're my Watcher. And you're my Rupert. The best guy I know."

"And you are still the Slayer."

"And who else?"

"You're Buffy."

"Yeah, but who is she?"

*****

Angel patrolled silently through Restview cemetery. That had always been the most active graveyard in town. He could remember every inch of the grounds, though far too many new graves had been dug and filled in the year he'd been gone. He recognized several as victims of the battle during Buffy's graduation. Names he'd half heard her mention in connection with something that had happened in class or at The Bronze. Brave children who sacrificed themselves that others might live.

These kids of seventeen and eighteen had battled evil with more grace than he ever had, and at a far greater cost.

Still, he had tried to atone for the evil he caused, both in life and for more than a hundred years after. All it had taken was someone to show him the way. A golden girl of sunlight who wouldn't take no for an answer. The woman who had cost him his soul, yet was endlessly his salvation.

His Buffy.

Not his anymore.

But still his standard and his inspiration. Still the woman he loved. Still the reason he fought.

Still the cause of so much pain in his silent heart.

These children had felt it too, and had willingly answered her call.

He wondered if she understood how special she was. Powers or no powers, very few could command that level of loyalty. That level of sacrifice.

His musings were interrupted by a blood-curdling scream that tore through the night.

It seemed to be coming from the crypt to Angel's right.

*****

Spike could bear the torture no longer.

Barry Manilow he had faced like a man.

John Tesh he had endured with stoic silence.

But against this he could no longer steel himself.

The soundtrack for The Little Mermaid was his breaking point.


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