A Giles/Joyce fic.

Second season in the Cocorific Series. To read this, you don't really have to read the first story Cocorific Season 3, but just know that in that story Giles and Joyce, after the Band Candy incident, actually started dating. I suggest reading it, but then again, I'm the author so I am going to suggest that. haha.

So anyway this is how season 4 would have gone in the Cocorific 'verse. hehe.


A/N: The first two or three chapters will pretty much stay true to the original episodes with the Cocorific side of things being integrated but after that things won't be as episode orientated. Particularly Fear Itself... ;-).


So anyway, here is the first chapter The Freshman. Hope you like how I did it and reviews-well, I like them a lot and I'm sure you don't want me to be the little lonely review-free fanficcer. 8-D


"Olivia?" Giles asked in surprise as he opened his front door expecting to see Joyce but instead found the young, attractive, black woman he knew in England.

"Ripper" She smiled.

"What are…what are you doing here?" He asked as she walked in without being invited.

"Well, just passing through sunny cal…" She explained, "Thought I'd look you up"

As she took a step forward he automatically took a step back.

"I'm assuming it wasn't to talk" He took a step back again. He and Olivia had had what could definitely be called 'a thing', but when the Watcher's Council had called him to America, the on-off relationship had taken a permanent switch to 'off'.

"Talking can be highly over-rated don't you think?" Olivia asked, clearly assuming they could pick up the relationship where they left off. It could have been considered insulting that she assumed he hadn't had any 'interest' during his time in America. Olivia had stepped forward and Giles, with no where else to go-through the wall behind him seeming to be the only option-was stood incredibly close to her when a woman that wasn't Olivia spoke up.

"What's going on?" And Giles turned to see Joyce stood in the doorway of the front door he had mistakenly left open.

"Joyce" He said, pushing Olivia away again and Joyce walked into living room slowly obviously very suspicious. She didn't know who this woman was but everything inside of her told her to take an instant disliking.

"When you invited me over Rupert, I didn't know we'd be entertaining guests"

Olivia looked sheepish as she held out her hand to Joyce.

"Hi, I'm Olivia" She introduced her and Joyce took her hand precariously.

"Joyce" she looked at Giles, before looking back at Olivia, "And how do you, uh, know Rupert?"

"We knew each other…quite well," Olivia explained with a smile, "In England"

"Really?" Joyce asked, looking at Giles with raised eyebrows and she walked over to stand beside him.

She felt territorial she couldn't help it. She didn't understand it though-she'd never felt territorial about a man in her life. She just wasn't that sort of person. But this Olivia was making her feel defensive and vulnerable. This woman after all knew him when he was in England- a part of his life that Joyce would never be in on and if she wasn't mistaken, and she usually wasn't, Olivia and Giles more than 'knew' each other back in the Mother country.

Olivia watched the unfamiliar blonde woman who Olivia had to say was older than her-perhaps close to Giles' age if a bit younger, and saw her stand beside Giles closely reaching for his hand if Olivia wasn't mistaken. She deducted that the two were in fact an item, but how serious?

"So you're American" Olivia commented and Joyce nodded.

"One of the effects of being born in America"

"Uh-huh." Olivia nodded before, suddenly feeling very unwelcome, she looked at Giles and made a decision there and then that it woldn't be a good choice to overstay her welcome, "Well it's been…well, it's been good seeing you again after all this time, but I have to go"

"Oh you sure you can't stay?" Joyce asked politely but the offer was clearly insincere.

"Positive" Olivia replied while Giles viewed it as safer to remain silent. "People to see, things to do and, well, planes to catch"

"I know it isn't far, but ah, let, let me show you out" Giles offered as he and Joyce led Olivia to the door.

"Well it was nice meeting you" Joyce told her as Olivia stepped out on the porch and more friendly farewells were exchanged for a few minutes before Olivia walked off down the path. Once Giles closed the front door Joyce's demeanour changed.

"Who was she?" Was her voice really that accusatory? Too late, she'd said it now.

"What? You know who she is. She was just a friend I knew in England"

"It looked like she intended more than friendship," Joyce pointed out, crossing her arms across her chest. She had asked a question and she had wanted an answer, but the answer had given wasn't a comforting one. It was the type of answer Hank had given her in the last months of their marriage. 'You know who she is' He'd say, 'She's from work. She's just my secretary.' Joyce shook her head to clear her thoughts as she tried to remind herself that Giles wasn't Hank. He was nothing like him in fact and she had to stop treating him as though that weren't true. She could trust him with other women. After all wasn't that what the phrase 'takes two to tango' was all about?

"Well, we have had a relationship before, quite a while ago in fact, but nothing…why are you so bothered about this?" Giles asked as he finally took into consideration how the usually calm woman (except when threats to her daughter were being made) was over-reacting.

"I-" Joyce began and then sighed when she couldn't answer the question, "I don't know. It's just she was here looking younger and wearing shorter skirts than me and she was clearly interested and…"

"But I'm only interested in you." Giles told her with a slight frown of confusion, "I don't want her-I want you" He paused; "Besides if I remember correctly you wore rather a short skirt yourself once…"

"Haha…" Joyce mumbled, blushing at the memory, "But it's not just that" She explained, "She knows about your life in England and I, well, don't. She has insight into this whole other part of you that I just don't know" As she said it, she realized it was the truth.

"Trust me, you know all you want to or need to" He assured her and gave her a kiss. There were many things he didn't want Joyce to know about and hoped she would never ask. Finding out would…well, it wouldn't paint a pretty picture of him and rightly so. He remembered how distant Jenny had become when she had first come across his past face-to-face. He couldn't stand to have Joyce look at him the same way. However, her expression now told him she wasn't happy with his answer so he added carefully "Of course, if you're still wondering, I suppose we could always, uh, take, well, take a short trip to England. Together. Perhaps"

This time she kissed him and he couldn't hold back the small smile it created.

"I may hold you to that" She told him as the couple headed upstairs.


Buffy kept thinking back to her one new friend on campus, Eddie, and how he had mysteriously disappeared. That is, it was mysterious to no one but herself, but she had a strong suspicion vampires were involved and since her friends were off doing their own thing and Xander wasn't yet back from his road trip across America, so Buffy was turning to the one person who could help her; Giles. With everything being haywire in her life she could trust Giles to be the one safe constant. She opened the door and walked in without knocking.

"Giles?"

"Rupert-we have got to get you into stocking real food. It's way too…non-fun British." A voice of woman Buffy knew all too well spoke up. Buffy took a few more steps forward into the living room and saw her Mom stood in the kitchen, looking through the cupboards. She sighed in frustration and walked out of the kitchen and stopped dead when she saw Buffy stood there.

"Buffy, what are you doing here?" Joyce asked panicking slightly

Buffy closed her eyes for a moment to block out the fact her Mom was wearing nothing but one of Giles' shirts.

"Oh god, this is a really bad time" Buffy said, going to leave, but Joyce stopped her.

"Not that I'm denying that, I'm really not, but you must be here for a reason" Joyce tugged the shirt down in an unsuccessful attemp to make it longer. She felt very embarrassed and very vulnerable.

"Yeah, but this is clearly oh god…." Buffy shook her head and hands again to keep herself away from that scary visual place she had pretended for so long didn't exist.

"Just give me one minute," Joyce told her, before rushing off into the bathroom to put on something a little less…comfortable.

Buffy waited in the living room grimacing and hoping that exchange would disappear from her memory banks the moment she left.

"Joyce?" Giles asked, coming into the room from another direction and he jumped as well slightly when he saw Buffy.

"Hello Buffy"

"Hi, I just saw, erm…" Buffy took a breath, "I just said hello to, erm, Mom"

"Ah," Giles nodded, "So that's all you came here to do? Say hello to your Mother?"

"Well, no, I came in the sense that…I need help. Slaying help," She told him just as her Mom walked back into the room now thankfully wearing slacks. Joyce ran her fingers through her hair, conscious that it needed brushing.

"Slaying?" Joyce asked, having caught the end of the conversation, "There's vampires at the university?" She asked in exasperation. She thought her daughter had, at least partially, got away from all that.

"Yes, No. Well, I don't know" Buffy answered honestly.

"What do you know?" Giles asked and Buffy just shook her head.

"This is clearly the wrong time to be talking about this. A bad time" She went to leave.

"Buffy?" Giles asked again, wondering what was the point in coming to say something and then leaving before saying it.

"Sorry I can't while…. while you know. Erm, while someone has a little too much time on their hands" Buffy told him.

"Buffy," Joyce said, "You know we're a couple and…"

"Yeah, but it's just wrong and I don't wanna see…argh." She went to leave again, but stopped and turned back. "It's just it's you two-Mom and Giles-and to think…see…. it's just very, very, very gross"

"Thanks" Joyce commented sarcastically.

"Why don't you just tell us what brings you here?" Giles asked and Buffy sighed in agreement.

"There's this student missing-Eddie"

"Oh you made a friend already?" Joyce asked echoing Willow from before, "And that's not really the point is it?"

"No" Buffy told her, "He's supposed to have left college…I just don't think he did. I met him outside last night and I went back to where we'd met and it looked like there had been a struggle…"

"And?" Giles asked, not seeing the point.

"Rupert" Joyce reprimanded him before looking at her daughter, "You think he was taken…by…vampires?" Buffy nodded.

"Well it makes sense doesn't it? Giles come on, there could be like vampires working the campus or something, we need research an-an-and charts and stuff"

"I still don't see where I fit in," Giles pointed out and before Buffy could say anything, Joyce hit him on the arm. "Ow?" He wondered what that had been for.

"She's coming to you for help and you're just throwing it in her face." Joyce told him, anger creeping up on her. Just because he wasn't her active watcher anymore did he feel he could slack on looking out for her?

"But she hasn't described anything she can't do herself" Giles explained and Joyce frowned.

"Doesn't mean you can't help though." She pointed out, "College is a big step- she wants a little help with…the slaying…and you're outright refusing."

"Guys it doesn't matter-" Buffy tried to step in but the two had started arguing.

"Buffy no longer needs a watcher. She quit the council," Giles pointed out.

"So what? You're quitting her too?" Joyce asked accusingly.

"That's not what I said and you know it. Buffy's safety will always be more important to me than anything she's got to learn to take of herself"

"And she's not saying she can't and I'm not saying she shouldn't. But that's college stuff. Vampires and demons and all the other things that put her in danger every single night you should help her with when she asks"

"Guys it's really-"

"I can't always be there to guide her." Giles explained.

"Well you're here now"

"Do we really need to talk more about this?" Giles asked, exasperated and Joyce frowned at him.

"At this moment I'm thinking no" And she walked off into the bathroom closing and locking the door behind her. Giles sighed and turned to speak to Buffy but saw she had already walked left.


She hadn't spoken to Giles yet. She couldn't. She had gotten changed and left almost immediately and now she was back home. How could he just ignore Buffy's cry for help like that? It was so cold. She didn't like it one bit. It reminded her all too much that he had once been part of this unseen Watcher's Council for years and had in fact for just as long been on their side instead of Buffy's. But of course he cared for Buffy, there wasn't even a question of it, so why had he said no and why had she taken it worse than Buffy had? Storming off home. Childish really. And now she was home. Alone. She missed Buffy being around. Even when she wasn't there all the time it was another presence in the house as she flitted in and out. And then the others had always come over-Willow, Xander, Oz, Cordelia…it had been nice. Joyce didn't think she'd have missed it so much, but she did. She walked out of her room to get some things from the boxes she was keeping in Buffy's room to see Buffy herself standing in the hall.

"Buffy"

"Hi Mom" She took in her Mom's casual t-shirt and jeans, "Dressed this time I see," She teased and her Mom looked suitably embarrassed.

"Yes, well…Buffy, your arm is hurt," She noticed Buffy was cradling her left arm, "You've been fighting"

"It's nothing really…" Buffy tried to convince her but her Mom was already ranting.

"I told Rupert he should have helped you. He didn't did he? And look what's happened" Joyce took a closer look at the arm.

"It's not his fault Mom. He's right-I've gotta learn to deal on my own"

"No." Joyce corrected her, "You've got to learn to live on your own, cook on your own. Things like this you need help with-you should have help with. It's the only thing that's going to keep you alive. This needs some ice" Holding Buffy's sore arm she led her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Have you spoken to Giles yet?" Buffy asked, trying to get away from the topic of her badly injured arm. Joyce sighed and paused for a moment. She shook her head.

"No, I haven't" She told her honestly, taking an ice pack out of the freezer and placing it on Buffy's arm. "Hold that there"

"You should you know…he was only trying to help"

"By not helping? Buffy, hold it on there" Buffy had stopped holding the ice pack and merely being balanced on her arm it had started to slide off. She grabbed it with her other hand before it landed on the floor.

"That's not how it works Mom" Buffy sighed, "I'm the slayer-I should be able to deal with these things on my own. If it was life or death Giles would always help"

"But isn't the slaying an everyday life or death thing?" Joyce asked, not sounding happy about the fact but acknowledging it was a fact nonetheless.

"Yeah…" Buffy agreed uneasily, "But it's not that" She was going to say simple when the phone rang.

"I'll get that," Joyce told her pointing at Buffy's sore arm, "You just keep holding the ice on it" Buffy sighed and rolled her eyes as though her Mom were being ridiculous but to be honest she felt happy at home. Made her forget about all the trouble she was facing at college. "Hello?" Joyce asked on the phone and got no answer, "Hello?" She hung the phone up after a moment, "Huh. They hung up." She shrugged, "Must have been a wrong number"

"I've gotta get going" Buffy said, standing up and putting the ice pack on the side.

"Buffy…"

"The arm'll be fine Mom. Slayer, remember?" Buffy told her, "Just talk to Giles, huh?" She asked as she started heading out the door, but her Mom looked like she was planning to do nothing of the sort. "Please"

"Fine, I'll call him or something." Joyce shrugged not sounding very eager.

"Good" Buffy told her. She may not be all accepting of the PDA between her Mom and Giles, but she was getting used to it and god forbid even liking the relationship they had and she didn't like the idea of them falling out. Especially over her. It was too much like her Mom and Dad when she was fifteen.

"Hmm" Joyce said as Buffy was out the door, "He's probably gone off to find that Olivia anyway" It wasn't true, but it felt good for a moment to be petty enough to say it. Even though Buffy was out the door she had heard what she said and walked back in.

"What? Who's Olivia?"

"Some girl from England he used to have a thing with" Joyce explained.

"She was there today?"

"Yesterday" Joyce corrected her, "And she wasn't just there for 'catching up'. I bet he's gone off to meet her now and…"

Buffy sighed in exasperation.

"God, it's like dealing with two teenagers with you two sometimes" Buffy told her Mom, interrupting her Olivia rant, "Are you sure that candy ever wore off?" Buffy asked as she left finally, not sure whether the question was a joke or not.


Okay so she skipped the 'calling him' part and had gone straight to heading over part in an attempt of reconciliation, part in rage. She wasn't quite sure yet which one she was going to lean towards when she came face to face with him but she knew she was going to have to decide soon as she was now stood on his front doorstep. She was about to knock on the door, after taking several deep breaths, when the door was pulled wide open and she saw him standing there, several weapons in his hands.

"Is this how you normally answer the door to people?" She asked.

"Joyce"

"Hi. Listen, I wanted to talk to you about be-" She took in the fact again that he was carrying weapons, "What-where are you going?"

"Well, ah, you see-"

"You're going to help Buffy?" She smiled.

"Yes, well, I decided you were right. I should be there for her when she needs help and so I'm just going to-" He stopped talking as she kissed him. He would have held her, but the crossbow and axe in his hands would have made it somewhat awkward.


"Hi honey" Joyce said over the phone when she heard her daughter's voice, "So everything worked out okay?"

"Yeah, pretty much. Vamps are done and dusted."

"Well, that's good…despite the fact you're telling me so late" Joyce joked looking at the very late time.

"So you talked to Giles then?" Buffy asked casually, not responding to her mother's tease.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"He turned up to help in the end. I assumed you'd told him to" Buffy admitted.

"No, honestly he decided to go himself" Buffy heard her Mother trying to convince her over the phone. She rolled her eyes at Willow.

"Yeah sure Mom" She agreed but the heard another voice, a man's, speaking in an indignant tone. "Have you got someone over?" Buffy asked innocently.

"What?" Joyce asked, obviously having been too busy talking to her guest to hear Buffy's question.

"Do you have someone over?" Buffy asked again and yet again her Mother wasn't listening.

"She thinks I made you go" Her Mom was whispering off the phone.

"Is that Giles?" Buffy asked and then looked at the time and saw it was either very late or very early depending from which side you decided to look at things. She opened her mouth in shock, "Have you got Giles over? At this…oh god, bye Mom" She said before hanging up quickly and throwing a look Willow's way who laughed at her reaction.