"Who?"

Disclaimer: Not mine but thine...O, Joss!

Archived at the Cicelyverse page of the Buffy Rebecca verse

General audience level...

Summary: Events after the great Sunnydale battle have left Buffy seeking her past and present…With help from an Immortal source.

Part II…

The hospital having restricted the group monitoring Buffy to four in her room...The rest in defensive mode lining the corridor outside where not off to complete the bankruptcy of the Royal Council of Antiquarians and Library Scientists in the hospital's cafeteria...

"She'll be ok, Dawn." Willow noted to the steadfast junior Summers, still by Buffy's bedside after two days...

"Ok...?" Dawn frowned. "If you count being dead, this is her third coma. The neurologist's sure she's going to make the cover of the New England Medical Journal..."

"Headlining NEMJ?...Sweet..." Willow beamed. "Hey, I just made a medical..."

Ummn...Sorry...She eyed the staring others...Bad to make puns...Even the elusive medical variety...Right now...Sorry...

Xander managing to slip her a brief thumb's up...

Aw...

"We still have no clear idea as to why she left or where she was going..." Giles noted. Waving a hand to Willow's look...Hey, Xander...He, the one who sees all.

"I agree Xander's suggestion may be the correct one. But she may also have been contacted...Delusional...Even Dawn may be right about the First attempting another try."

'Even Dawn'? Dawn glared.

"Until she comes out of the coma and tells us why, we must assume there's some potential dangerous force at work here..." Giles continued. "She's got to be guarded night and day.

"Covered it, Giles..." Kennedy, to his left in chair, nodded . "Three shifts of five Slayers...Three in room, two in hall...In hospital...Three shifts of three patrolling the grounds."

"Very good..." Giles nodded.

Kennedy giving Willow in her lap an arch look and high-five...

"Try to impress on them to look like normal visitors as much as possible." he noted."Andrew...?"

"Ms. Rosenberg and I conducted a full magics sweep of the perimeter at 15:00 hrs today, sir. No signs of demonic/magical activity..." formal nod to his partner in Kennedy's lap who returned nod...

"Fine...Please continue such sweeps periodically. Dawn...?"

"Hmmn?..." she blinked awake, mentally thumbed. Was I supposed to do something?...

"Go to the apartment with Willow, now...And go to bed. You've been here for two days. You must get some rest."

"I'm fine..." she frowned. Blinking...

"We don't need two Summers girls in comas, Dawn. If anything happens whoever's on duty will contact you..."

"I'm fine..." she repeated. "You go home."

"Actually, I intend to. Andrew will take over for me for the next shift...We're no good to her exhausted, Dawn...Now go home and rest and come back after you've slept and eaten something."

"I can't leave her...She'll go..." she murmured. "Like...Mom...And Daddy...All gone...I..."

She blinked at the group... "I'm fine."

"Come on, Dawn..." Willow got out of the chair. "We'll see if they have anything Buffy might like to chow on when she wakes up..."

"Dawn?"

"Finally..." Giles sighed at the sleeping Dawn. "Xander, help Willow get her to the apartment. I'll be off myself...Call me at my cell if you need me..."

"Not heading straight to bed...?" Willow grinned. "As in...Got a date with a certain Brit store manager?"

"As in...Shut up Willow and call me if you need me. Good night, people..." Giles told them.

A last, gentle pat of Buffy's still arm as he left...

."Nite, Giles..." Xander called.

"Lets get Sleeping Beauty here to bed..." Willow took one of Dawn's arms. Xander, the other...

"See ya, babe..." she called to Kennedy who'd begun discussing patrol perimeters with Andrew...

"Love ya..." Kennedy called. Waving...

"Mom...Don't..." Dawn mumbled. "Don't go...Mom!"

Willow eyed Xander...

"She'll be ok..." he nodded.

"I'm thinking about you..." she said, quietly.

"So...Ms. Summers is no better...?" Olive looked up from her plate.

"Neither worse nor better..." Giles fingered his glass of wine…

"I'm sorry...It must be so hard on you..."

"I've been very close to both the Summers girls for many years. There have been many times like this one. But..."

"It never gets easier..." she smiled wanly.

"No..."

"Still...You've saved the lives of these young women in a terrible crisis. Not a common achievement for a high school librarian..." she grinned.

"Please...I should be fortunate if Fox News doesn't charge me with perversion. 'What was a high school librarian doing in a bus with twenty-four young women during the Sunnydale disaster?'"

"There were more than twenty-four...To start?" Olive asked, cautiously.

"Yes..." he nodded...Rubbing fingers gently. "More..."

"It's the ones you don't save you remember..."

He stared at her wan face...

"I've done my share of rescue work in a few different places..." she replied to his inquiring look.

"One keeps asking oneself...Could I have saved them all? Where did I fail the others?...What did I do wrong?...Even when nothing, it seems, could have been done..." she said quietly.

"I do..." he nodded.

"And sometimes...One's even had to sacrifice some to save others..." she went on.

"It's the nature of things..." she concluded. As he looked at her…

"She sacrificed someone to save the others, didn't she?" she asked. "As you did..."

"Worse..." he shook his head. "I..." he paused. "Well..."

"I'm sorry...I had no right to press you like that."

"No...You're very kind, Olive...I'm glad you do have some experience in such matters. I've needed to talk about...All of this...A little...Though, just right now..."

"I understand, Rupert..."

"It has been a comfort. You're being here...Thank you..." he smiled at her.

"I'm glad...I only wish I knew you all better and could be more so..."

"You've put your own life on hold the past few days...You couldn't have done more."

"Well, you and your ladies gave me an unexpected holiday. I had to return the favor..." she smiled.

"Though it will be back to my routine on Monday."

"Good...That you'll be able to return to it, I mean. I only wish I could do the same...And poor Dawn and Buffy as well...All of them."

"But not all the girls are Sunnydalers...?" she asked. "Some were just visiting and can go home? If one can just 'go home' after such an experience..."

"They can't...Not completely, I'm afraid..." he sighed.

"I'm ruining your quiet dinner with my talk..." Olive shook her head. "I'd meant to be light and bright. And here I am talking of difficult things I know too little of to help you with..."

"You do help..." he smiled faintly.

….

Two am...The Palmerston General Hospital where Buffy lay, still comatose in her room...

A figure in the hallway...Waiting...

"Ma'am...?" A Slayer on guard recognized the figure. The young woman...

"Hello..." Ms. Knowles nodded. "I came to let you know that Mr. Giles went to his room a little while ago...Ms. Rosenberg asked me to tell someone when he finally did get to bed..."

I live past the hospital...Up the next road, so I thought it was easiest to stop by...she explained. "I know Ms. Rosenberg was headed to sleep herself, poor thing. Please let her know...Good night..."

"Sure..." the Slayer, Maureen... Nodded.

Ms. Knowles proceeded past the nurses' station. Stopped by the elevator...And slipped into the nearest room when Maureen turned to check the adjoining hallway. And the few nurses on duty at this hour had either entered other rooms or were occupied at the station...

She careful emerged a moment later. In lab coat...Chart in hand...Slipping carefully up the hallway toward Buffy's room...

Now...If she'd heard the schedule correctly...

The Slayer by the door did not know her. She eyed the Slayer... "Are you a family member?"

"Cousin..." Akira nodded.

"Dr. Williams...I want to check Ms. Summers' injuries, monitor, and review her meds...Excuse me..."

"Sure.." Akira pushed the door open...

"Stacy? Doctor's visit..."

Stacy, smiling. "Hey doc..."

So far, so good...Olive thought...

"I'll just be a moment..." she eyed Stacy. And another girl, a tall brunette seated in a chair at Buffy's side...

"We have permission to stay with cousin Buffy...All night..." Stacy noted.

"That's fine...But I need to look at her...If you'd excuse me..." she drew the curtain.

"I don't like to leave cousin Buffy..." the seated girl said, holding Buffy's limp right hand firmly.

"Of course...That's fine..." Olive nodded. "Just let me have a look at her chart. Yes..."

She thumbed through the chart...

"That's odd..." she stared.

"What?..." Stacy asked.

"This is hardly a standard med for her condition..." Olive frowned at the chart. "Let me have a look at her monitor...Excuse me..." she moved to the bed. "I'll need to have a listen to her lungs..." she pulled out a stethoscope...Placing it under Buffy's nightgown onto her chest.

"Is anything wrong?" the other girl asked.

"No, no...I just wonder about this med. Very unusual in her condition...I may need to call about it...Well, her vitals are good..."

An alarm blared...

Right on time...Olive beamed a brief moment...A worried look back when Stacy turned to her...

"What's that?"

"I've no idea..." Olive shook her head. "Sounds like an intruder breaking in...It's not our usual emergency summons..."

"Sounds different from the alarms they used before..." the other brunette girl noted. "You better check quick, Stas...I'll stay here with the doc."

"Just a mo...I'll be right back..." Stacy headed out.

"I'm sure it's nothing..." Olive told the brunette...Shining a crystal briefly which gave a flash...

"Everything is fine...The doctor checked Buffy and everything is fine..." she intoned.

"Everything's fine..." the girl repeated. Blinking...

Olive turned to the still Buffy...

"Ms. Summers...Listen, if you can hear me. I represent the one branch of the Addams-Walthrop family surviving...The one branch, that is, that Cicely entrusted her secret to. Ms. Summers...If you are seeking justice for my ancestor, William...I can help you...I..."

The monitor went critical. Alarms sounding...

Stacy entered. Looking round...Hey!

"Evey..." she turned to the seated brunette...Still a bit dazed...

"You..." she grabbed at Olive, pulling her away from the now writhing Slayer...

"It's fine...She's coming round, I think..." Olive tried. "Please let go of me so I can help her..."

"No..." Stacy maintained a grip. "You've done something..."

An emergency team rushed in, Giles, Dawn, and Willow on their heels, trying to follow...

"Ms. Knowles? What are you...Doctor, is she...?"

"Out!..." the team's lead doctor waved. Orderlies turning to move the six strangers out...Ms. Knowles having removed her coat on the team's entry...

They stood outside the room. Eyeing each other...Moving down the hall to a side hallway as the medical staff insistently urged them on, out of the way. Two more of the Slayers on duty hurrying down the hallway to them...

"She came in, claiming to be a doctor..." Stacy began...Guarded tones. "She's done something to Evey..."

"The girl's fine, Rupert..." Olive shook her head. "I'm sorry to have had to..."

"What were you doing in that room?" Giles asked. A cold tone...Ms. Knowles eyeing him silently...

"I'm ok..." Evey noted. "She flashed something on me...Sorry, Mr. Giles..."

"It's fine Evelyn. Fortunately, we were coming in...And the staff responded quickly."

"I bet she's the First, Giles..." Dawn insisted. "She lured Buffy into driving standard..."

"Dawn, she's not the First..." Giles shook his head.

This is lookin' like a short romance...Willow sighed. Wait...How would Giles...?

Why, Giles, you little British...She grinned at his hard face. Dinner clearly went well last night...

Xander entered, Andrew following...Willow hurried to them.

"She's ok..." she told them. "The doc and guys are with her..."

Xander eyed her, then stared where Giles, a furious Dawn, and four angry Slayers were apparently giving nice Ms. Knowles the once-over. Andrew staring as well...

"We've been had guys..." Willow sighed.

Though that's not necessarily a total nix on romance for our team...

"So...Impersonating a doctor...Disabling a Slayer. You don't work for Saks, do you? You were following us?" Giles' voice harsh...

Olive sighed...Rupert...

"It must be very nice to live on a planet where people can leave their jobs to pursue ridiculous adventures at the drop of a hat, Rupert. But what assistant manager of a large retail chain could leave her destroyed store and abandon her life for no more reason than a romantic pursuit?"

It seemed charming at the time...Willow sighed. Hey...You notice she didn't say 'For shoes'...she thought, eyeing Giles...She...Likes you. Risque click of tongue on teeth...

Giles pausing to glare Willow off...

Right...Attack on our Buf and our Evey...Anger the motivation...She turned to glare in turn at Olive...

"I borrowed a badge in the confusion at Saks in order to introduce myself to your group. Yes, I have been monitoring you since you left Sunnydale. As before, another relative, my cousin, kept track of you and your people there...At rather great cost to him, I should say..."

Hmmn...Well...Things did work out in the end with Jenny. Willow thought hopefully. Before she got brutally murdered...

"Why are you here? And what are your intentions?"

She hesitated.

"Must we use...?"

"I am the direct descendant of William Soames Walthrop's sister, Amelia." Ms. Knowles replied.

"William Who? Who?..." Willow asked.

Oh-oh...Dawn blinked.

Oh...Andrew nodded. "That explains it..."

"What?" Xander asked.

"Annals of the Undead:The Secret Files of the Royal Council online..." Andrew, thoughtful look. "Though, one can find useful if unsubstantiated material at WeLoveWilliamtheBloody online..."

"I see..." Ms. Knowles frowned. "So you people couldn't even be bothered to learn his true name...?"

"You're Spike's niece?" Dawn stared.

Spike's...? Willow stared.

"We never use that name, Dawn. But of William Soames Walthrop, multiple generations removed...Yes..." Ms. Knowles nodded.

"Too k you a while to come after him..." Willow noted.

"While he was in the grip of his demon there was little we could do for him...Being ordinary humans...Except minimize the damage he did when possible, seek any information to help him we could obtain, and watch to see Cicely returned for him as she'd sworn to do."

"So...There really is a Cicely..." Andrew began.

"Cicely? Who's Cicely...?" Willow asked.

Crash...Cries...

There was now a commotion in the hospital corridor outside Buffy's room...Staff running, a call for Security...A wheelchair patient speeding their way, at an admirable rate. And over the cries and noise...A distinctively British-accented voice...

"Back, you! What's happened to this place? Fetch Dr. Barnes!...You there, girl! Oh..Pardon me, sir... Get my clothes! Now!"

The crowd in the hallway thinned, Slayers at Giles' glance now moving to secure the area. Urging in their turn the doctors and staff back...

"Buffy?" Dawn stared at the blonde figure waving stake...IV tube flapping from her arm...

"Who took my clothes? What sort of fiendish opium den is this place?...You?" directed to a startled nurse... "You can't be a matron, what are you? Where the devil am I? And how can you let these poor wretched women wander about here half-dressed?" she waved at the Slayers and various staff...

"Buffy?" Dawn stepped forward... "Buffy, it's me...Dawn..."

"Who?" Buffy stared.

"Dawn, Buffy..."

"We've established that, you lewd little thing...Who?" she sniffed, bending a little, grimly eyeing the stunned Dawn. "Human, eh?"

"Yeah, of course, Buffy. You're going to be..."

Lewd...?

"Who?" Buffy glared.

First base...Xander and Willow thought...

"I've told you...I've told you fifty times. My name is Cicely Anne Walthrop...nee Addams...I entered this..." she looked round the waiting room they'd finally persuaded her to follow them to... "...a...Hospital on November 12th, 1880...And now..." she looked round again...

"Someone spoke to me...In that room..." she gave a narrow stare at the group about her. Giles, Willow, Dawn, Kennedy, Gong Li... "Told me she was a relative..." she eyed the group. "She's not here...Where is she?"

"We thought it best Ms. Knowles not be involved in this first interview..." Giles explained.

"Bad idea, sir...Bring her at once..."

"Buffy..."

Glare... "Is that your pet rabbit or something you're addressing, sir...?"

"Very well...Miss Walthrop."

"Mrs. Walthrop..." she sternly correctly.

Mrs?...Xander sighed to Willow. We are in it deep...Mrs?...

"Andy's getting all his material. Lets see what's there..." she noted.

"Mrs. Walthrop, then..." Giles, patiently. "You must let us evaluate this situation..."

"You...Mr...?" narrow look. "Sorry...Didn't catch it before..."

"Giles...Rupert Giles..."

"A pleasure, Mr. Giles...Under other, happier circumstances...Are you...?" she paused.

"A Watcher?" tense tone...

"Yes, I am..." he nodded. "You know then of our Council...?"

She's not kidding, is she? Dawn hissed to Willow...

Don't think so...Willow hissed back. "Andy says there's a Cicely legend associated with..."

"Be quiet, ladies..."Buffy frowned. "Know of, sir...?..Are you trying to deceive me? I swear by God, sir...!" harsh tone.

It's like a Kate Winslet/Cate Blanchett film in 3D...Xander noted to Andrew as they stood by the doorway. "Only with Kate/Cate a foot or so shorter..."

"I'm not, Mrs. Walthrop...How do you know of the Council? Are you an antiquarian or...?"

Even if she's not crazy or a demon presence, it doesn't have to be. She could be his mom...Willow quietly noted to Dawn, hopefully.

"You're kidding..." Xander stared at Andrew. Who shook his head..."Only a legend...But they all have a basis in fact..."

"Guys...?" Willow came over.

"You are lying, Mr. Giles..." Buffy, cold voice. "Your eyes give you away, sir. You know very well who I am, how I know the Council. And why, if you really are a representative of that unholy order, I will kill you and all such present in the next ten minutes if you don't produce the young lady who spoke to me..."

If her tenth grade English teacher could only hear her now...If she hadn't had to stake his vamp, I mean...Willow hissed to Dawn and Xander.

If only I'd thought to recharge the battery on this video cam...Andrew sighed.

"Buffy..." Willow tried now. "Giles would never lie to..."

"Bring her...Now..." Buffy, icy stare...Glance to...

"Oh, God!..." she eyed Xander, seeing him clearly for the first time. "Henry! Oh, Henry...Thank God, you're here...!" she rose eagerly, shoving Giles to the side... "Henry, what the devil's going on? Do you know?...Henry?!" she paused, eyeing him as she stood in front of him, blanching a bit. "What's happened to your eye?!...And why are you wearing such clothes?" Furious glare round…

"Who harmed my cousin?!"

Ummn...Xander blinked at her...

"Henry?" she looked round, eyes narrowing. "If any one of you did something to my cousin...?" Frigid tone...

Cousin...Xander sighed.

Right...

Ummn... Sorry, An...Cousin...Cousin is good...

"You got it wrong, Buf..." Willow tried. "This is Xander, your friend...We don't know any Henry."

"Sandler?" Buffy repeated, after a fashion. "Sandler?"

"Xander...From Alexander..." Willow explained. "And I'm..."

"Henry Alexander..." Buffy stated, cutting Willow's intro off. Questioning look? No?...

"No, I think you got the wrong person, Buffy..." Xander shook his head. "I'm sorry..."

"Buffy..." Dawn began.

"Will someone put a decent outfit on that prating child?" Buffy asked. "You people should be ashamed of yourselves...Not even the fiends of Hell would be so lewd. Look, girl...Dawn Buffy or whatever...Go outside and play and let us finish our talk..."

"Hey..."

"Best to do as she wishes for now, Dawn..." Giles noted.

"Absolutely..." Buffy nodded. "And speaking of what I wish...And have someone find you some decent clothing...!" she called to the departing, fuming Dawn...

"Very well..." Giles sighed. "But we stay to monitor your conversation..."

"Agreed..." Buffy nodded. "I've nothing, unlike you, Watcher, to keep secret..." icy tone.

Willow eyed Xander. And Dawn, poking head in from hallway...

….

"How did you find me?..." Buffy asked Olive as they sat, chairs beside each other...Giles, Willow, and Xander standing... "Did William...Reach you, somehow?"

"It was really just our usual surveillance, Cicely. We've awaited your return for a century..." Olive, eagerly.

Is it a good idea to keep letting her call Buffy, 'Cicely'...? Willow hissed to Giles. "I heard in Psych class you shouldn't encourage multiple personalities..."

Of course...Magics Malifactorum says, in the case of reincarnation...Giles put up a hand...Later, Willow...

Thank God Wells went off on some errand.

"When William's demon and Ms. Summers became opponents, we wondered..." Olive continued. "But he'd gotten involved with Slayers in the past. Apparently drawn to them, in spite of the danger..."

"Seeking me...Oh...I knew..." Buffy, anxiously. Hmmn...? "How many Slayers...?"

"Well, he killed two..."

"Two?...Permanently?...Or...?"

"So far as we know...They never rose...Mr. Giles?..." Olive looked up...Giles shaking his head...

A visible look of relief on Buffy's face... "Good...Ummn...That he never condemned the poor girls to a living death, I mean...And those were the only ones he met before...?" she glanced down at herself.

"Does she sound...?" Willow asked.

"Jealous...Oh, yeah..." Xander nodded.

Lord, I can make out my thighs distinctly…Buffy eyed her trouser-clad thighs...Blushing a bit.

Thank God at least they had an overcoat of some sort for me to wear over this flimsy thing...she eyed the white blouse she now wore.

"And Ms. Summers' record, filtering through to us, sounded worthy of you...Then William's demon seemed increasingly obsessed with you. With Ms. Summers..."

"He was?...Really?" Buffy, pleased.

Hmmn...Wait...

"Mirror..." she looked round...

"That was a politely put order, people..." she frowned at the group.

"Buffy...That's not an absolutely swell idea..." Dawn tried. Having gradually managed to slip back in from the doorway...

"Swell? How delightfully American...What is she doing back in here, still undressed?" Buffy glared. "And I am waiting on that mirror..."

Willow pulled a small compact out, opening...

"Snuff?..." Buffy eyed the little box.

The red-haired wanton creature certainly dressed as the tales of opium addicts suggested...

"Cosmetics..." Willow explained. Buffy taking the box from her gingerly...

Arghh!...She stared at the image in horror. Hand to face...

"I'm dying...What? What do I have?! It's consumption, isn't it?! Henry?!" she looked to Xander.

"Sorry...Sandler...Get me some food, anything at hand...You fiends!" she turned on Giles. "Have you been starving me?"

"Buffy..." Willow, gently. "That's your look...You worked hard to look like that..."

Well, actually...Thanks to Slayer physiology...she thought.

"Are you mad? I'm skeletal...I look like one of the Undead..." Buffy shuddered at her image.

Which could explain a lot in the romance department...Dawn noted to herself.

"...And what have I been doing to this hair? Food...Anything..." she barked at Xander…Giles nodding to him.

"Sorry, Henry...er, Sandler..." she called as he left the room. "Bit on the edge, you know...?"

"I'm really not like this most days..." she sighed to Willow. So...She eyed the mirror...

"William's demon was obsessed? With this?"

"Hey..." an offended Dawn took up the Summers' cause… "My sis is a beauty...Men...Well, ok...Unmen...Die for her. Literally..."

"Ha, ha, ha, mmpf, ha...For her?" Buffy chuckled, handing back the mirror to Willow... "Well, it does explain why a demon nature might become obsessed. The girl's practically dead now..."

"Giles…?" Dawn turned to the stand-in parent…

"Dawn...I don't think this is an argument worth..."

"Listen, you..." she turned back to Buffy. "William loved her...Even with soul..."

Dawn...Giles sighed.

"Soul...?" Buffy stared. "You said...Soul?" She looked at the others...

Oh-oh...Willow eyed Giles...

"Maybe I was speaking meteorologically..." Dawn tried.

"Metaphorically...And no, you weren't..." Buffy, eyeing the group.

Whoa...Metaphorically? And no hint from Giles?...Willow stared.

I'm convinced...This is not Buffy...

"It's true, Cicely..." Olive nodded. "William regained his soul over a year ago...By his own efforts..."

Naturally...Buffy nodded. But beamed... Well...

"This explains it..." she smiled. "Obviously, I've been brought back to him in this emaciated form as God's apology for our unjust fate. You are very fortunate, Watcher..." she gave Giles a hard stare... "Now..." she leaned back.

"You can't take my sis' body..." Dawn glared.

"She vacated...I filled the vacuum. What little this body allowed..." Buffy shrugged.

"Nonsense..." Giles frowned. "We have no idea yet what you are. A memory fragment, a spirit, a demon, lying to us in your own turn, even an aberration of the mind. But what we will not do in any case is let you steal Buffy Summers' life. We must study what has happened here. And I warn you...You've seen that we have a large force of Slayers present..."

"Enough..." she waved a hand. "You're right...This matter requires careful study. Fine...Study away, Watcher...In the meantime..." she beamed again.

Lovely smile...Willow thought. But not Buffy's smile...

Xander entered, Andrew following. Both bearing Doublemeat Special bags...

"That smells divine...Please..." she reached for the bags. "But as I was saying...Oooh...Pomme frites...I love pomme frites..." she looked up.

Oh, God...Dawn sighed...Looking at Giles...

"...Where is my dear husband?" blissfully innocent smile...

"...For the sake of your lives..." continued smile...Somewhat less innocent...

Even Olive trying hard to look anywhere else...