Zigpal-Thanks for the review so much. Happy you liked the Joyce-Willow scene. Also, I've tried to make your wish my command with the slap scene (i'm here to please. hahaha), so hope it's what you had in mind. :-).
So here is another update. I'm getting quite good with these lately. I think it's mainly because I'm putting of my French studies. Why French really? ( For my french verbal I intend to say the following, if i fail to remember facts on france: Je sens un assaut d'allumer blond muet). I'll just get lost in my Art History course thank you very much haha. So conclusion? Updates a plenty. Enjoy (and reveiw...mwa haha)
Willow thoughts were focused on the events that had happened over the last few days. Faith having a leading role in all of them. She sighed, why did Wesley have to screw things up so badly? While Willow herself had no problems with Faith being carted off to England, that plan only worked if you actually successfully went through with it and well, it hadn't. Success had been far from it.
"Most likely they'll lock her away for a good long while" Giles had told them when they had been discussing everything in the library and Willow had noticed that Joyce was there again. Clearly a sign that she was slowly becoming a permanent fixture in the Scooby outings.
"So we head them off at the airport and stop them" Buffy had suggested.
"Why?" Joyce asked the very question that had been on the tip of Willow's tongue.
"Why?" Buffy had repeated, "Because we can't let them take her that's why."
"I'm with your Mom on this one Buffy," Willow had told her, wary of the look she was being thrown by her best friend, "I mean maybe I'm not the most objective. I know have issues with Faith sharing my people…" A pointed look Xander's way had revealed the meaning behind this sentence, "But she murdered someone and accused Buffy"
"And now Xander?" Joyce had asked, clearly on Willow's side, "Buffy, I understand you want to help her, but it's been taken out of your hands now…why not just let it be? I mean if they get her to England maybe it'd help more than…well, a group of teenagers performing an intervention."
"Mom," Buffy had pleaded, "I know she's out of control, but Angel was getting through to her. We just have to stop Wesley" And at that point the aforementioned watcher had walked in and they all turned to stare.
"That's no longer an issue"
"You let her go?" Buffy had asked incredulously and Wesley had grimaced.
"'Let' wouldn't be the way I'd phrase it…" He answered honestly, rubbing at his jaw suggesting he'd felt the wrath of Faith. Joyce had stood up as she'd realized how the events had unfolded.
"You mean she escaped?" She had asked and Wesley nodded. She shook her head in disbelief, "God, could you people mess up anymore? My daughter has better plans than you" Joyce had told him and Buffy hadn't known whether to take the comment as an insult or a compliment.
"Mrs Summers" Wesley had stated, clearly trying to exert some authority (and failing), "I am the one in charge and I did what I believed to the best for the council and for Faith-" He had been cut off mid-speech by Joyce delivering a sharp slap across his face and, not expecting it, his head had knocked to the side a little. He rubbed his face in shock.
"You do realize you've made things worse don't you?" Joyce had accused as both Buffy and Giles had ran over to her,
"Exactly," Angel had spoke up agreeing with the woman, "First you terrorize her and then put her back on the streets"
"Yeah great job" Xander mocked Wesley.
"I didn't mean to" Wesley had said, taking a step back not wishing to be slapped again. Buffy and Giles were holding Joyce's arms, but he didn't quite trust that, "I just wanted to help"
"But you didn't" Joyce argued, and Buffy had to agree.
"You probably destroyed her" The slayer pointed out and Willow had wondered for a moment whether Buffy was also the slapping type because if she was, with slayer strength, Willow felt that Wesley wouldn't have recovered for a while.
"You two, that's enough" Giles had reprimanded both mother and daughter and Willow had certainly noticed that 'mother' looked less than impressed with him.
They had split up after that and each pair or single had gone to a different place to find Faith and it had been Buffy who struck gold. Faith was sticking around, but Willow wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing. Lost in her thoughts she didn't realize when she bumped into Oz coming out of a classroom.
"Hey" She greeted him as he came out of the library. He looked back at the doors he had just exited in puzzlement, before turning back to his smiling girlfriend.
"You know those two are together right?" He asked simply as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Who?" Willow asked, for one moment living the bliss of ignorance.
"Giles and Ms Summers" Oz stated simply as he put the book back in his bag.
"What?" Willow sighed in exasperation, "Why do people keep blurting this out to me?"
"So people do know then?" Oz asked, "Cool. Coz you know, I thought it was just me. And I find keeping a secret like that isn't the thrill ride you'd expect"
"Well some people still are clue-free," Willow explained, "That is Buffy still is. And Xander" Oz nodded to show he understood.
"Buffy-vacating in not-coping land. Check. And Xander?"
"Just Xander" Willow smiled and laughed causing Oz to laugh slightly to. She had never seen Oz laugh out loud. Just smirk and chuckle quietly and coolly.
"So Cordelia and Angel…" Oz prompted and Willow finished off.
"Know"
"Okay" He paused and looked at Will, "Oh no…" He complained and Willow felt panicked,
"What? What's the matter?" She asked, but smiled when he hugged her.
"There's something that's causing me to hug you…." He teased.
"Ooh toast" Buffy exclaimed as she came into the kitchen the following morning. The night before had been an eventful patrol and with this recent enquiries and examinations by the council…well, she was famished. She grabbed a piece off the large blue plate on the island and her Mom, who had been looking out the kitchen window turned around.
"Morning sweetheart" She greeted her and then watched the teenager eat one piece of jam toast whole, "Hungry?" She asked with a smile, but Buffy's mouth was too full to answer. "I'll take that as a yes then. What do you want to drink? We have OJ, we have tea, we have water, we have milk…we can even have smoothies if you want" she added looking over at the clock on the wall and saw they had plenty of time.
"I wouldn't say no" Buffy answered after she had swallowed the toast, "But why the offer?" Her Mom was distinctly a 'buffy-get-fed-get-gone-or-we're-late' kind of person and here she was offering smoothies. With a smile on her face no less.
"Just feel like it" Joyce shrugged, a smile still playing at her lips.
"Are you seeing someone…?" Buffy asked suspiciously and teasingly as her teenage senses kicked in.
"What?" Joyce asked in surprise, before realizing that Buffy was just showing genuine interest not having a clue of the actual facts so Joyce saw it safe to play along, "Maybe…"
"Ooh!" Buffy exclaimed excitedly before pausing, "He isn't a robot is he?"
Joyce rolled her eyes.
"Are you ever going to let that go?" She asked and Buffy shook her head.
"Nope," She answered, "So this guy-he is boyfriendly?"
"He could definitely be…boyfriend potential" Joyce felt more relaxed as she talked. It was nice being able to share this with Buffy, even if it wasn't completely.
"Hmm…interesting" Buffy nodded approvingly, "Where did you meet?" Joyce frowned. Technically she met him three years ago in a hospital when a vampire had bitten her…but somehow she didn't think that answer would go down too well.
"At work" She answered safely.
"Huh." Buffy smiled, "Well things must be good if you're being all smiley and smoothy making" She took the glass of OJ that was her Mom's, since the conversation had put the smoothy on hold, and took a sip. "Must be getting serious" She teased, before jumping up, "Well gotta book. Gotta get in early for slayer testing." She rolled her eyes at her Mom as she grabbed her coat. "See you later"
"See you honey"
As Buffy left, Joyce thought over her daughter's words 'things must be getting serious'. Were they?
"Rupert, you do know you take 'workaholic' to a whole new level don't you?" Joyce teased as she watched him double check something in his office in the library. She had driven to his house to go out on their date to find him actually ready on time for once. The pleasant surprise had been short-lived when he announced he had to check he hadn't left something demon-related at the library. Seems he couldn't trust Wesley with it and Joyce didn't blame him. So here they were checking for the item that he had just found out he hadn't left here. Joyce tapped her foot impatiently.
"Right, all set" He announced, leading her out the office, but the two stopped dead when they saw Buffy and Xander stood there. "Buffy, I thought you were going out tonight. I didn't expect…"
Buffy felt like she was dieing as she thought of Willow in the Bronze. Or rather the thing that was pretending to be Willow. But for one moment she was drawn out of the depression to stare in puzzlement at her Mom and Giles. Her Mom was wearing a black dress that had on it a Japanese floral design and Buffy instantly recognized it as her Date Dress. The one for the serious dates. The dates, of which Buffy constantly tried to remain ignorant of and stay in denial of the nights her Mom well, 'meant business'. Giles however was the one that shocked Buffy the most. No tweed. What he was wearing? None of it was tweed. She wanted to question it, but she just didn't have the energy. What was the point anymore? Willow was gone. She started to cry a little and Joyce ran over to.
"Oh god honey, what's the matter?" She asked, hugging her, but Buffy was now crying too much to say anything.
"It's Will…" Xander told the two.
"What about Willow, Xander?" Giles asked, as he feared the worst.
"She's…oh god," Xander tried his hardest not to break down, "She's a…she's a vampire"
"What?" Giles asked, taking his glasses off, "No, you, uh, you must be mistaken"
"No, Giles," Buffy said, as she stopped crying for a moment, "I saw her. It was her. Or the demon that looks…oh god"
"Sweetie…." Joyce said sympathetically as she held her daughter. She wanted to cry herself. Willow had been like a second daughter to her, she loved her almost as much as she loved Buffy. And now she was dead? Not just dead, but she had become the very thing her daughter had to kill.
The group just stood in silence for a while, before collapsing on the stairs that led up to the higher floor of the library. None of them knew what to say. There was nothing to say. Buffy at one point crawled away from her Mother to huddle in the corner, holding her knees. She just couldn't stand people touching her right now. She couldn't stand anything. She just wanted to get away.
Joyce and Giles, even though both Buffy and Xander were there, didn't care as they leant against one another as they sat on the stairs, and Giles had his arms around her. Both Buffy and Xander were too overwhelmed with grief to even notice.
"This isn't real" Xander spoke into the silence.
"I can't feel anything" Buffy spoke in a zombie-like voice, "Arms, legs, anything"
"She was truly the finest of all us all" Giles stated while Joyce just looked down at the ground in front of her in a daze.
"She was such a lovely girl. So innocent" She added.
"She was way better than me" Xander said and no one argued. Giles even said,
"Much, much better"
"It's all my fault" Xander confessed, putting his head in his hands.
"Where did you get that idea?" Joyce asked, not believing it and Xander looked up and shook his head and shrugged.
"Oh you know, statistical probability."
"No, it's my fault" Buffy argued.
"Buffy…" Joyce started to speak but Buffy stopped her.
"No, Mom, it is me. I was the one that called her reliable," Buffy told everyone, "She must have gone out and got attacked and that would have never happened if I hadn't called her reliable. And now my best friend is…"
At that point Willow walked into the room and they all looked up in surprise. Joyce felt sick. Was Buffy going to have to kill her friend? Now? Here? It just wasn't right. Or fair.
"What's going on?" Willow asked casually and the saw their sad, depressed faces, "Geez, who died?" They continued to stare sombrely. "Oh god, who died?"
Xander ran over, cross in hand.
"Xander!" Joyce exclaimed. She couldn't bear it if this 'willow' killed him too. But he was already shoving the cross in Willow's face.
"Get back demon! Back!" He commanded but Willow didn't react except to throw a concerned look his way. Giles, Buffy and Joyce stood up and headed over as they realized she wasn't a vampire.
"You're alive?" Buffy asked in disbelief.
"Aren't I usually?" Willow was very confused and was even more so when Buffy took her into a tight hug. Slayer hugs were not the most comfy. But before she could gasp for air Xander was also hugging her and Willow was drowning in the tight embrace. Literally. "Guys" She spoke up, "Oxygen becoming an issue"
The two jumped back apologetically.
"Okay…." Willow said in confusion, "Giles what's going-" Before she could finish the question however the normally reserved man had taken her up in a tight hug. Eventually he pulled back in embarrassment.
"Oh, uh, sorry" He apologized and Willow looked at Joyce warily. The woman had tears in her eyes and Willow wondered whether she was also going to jump on the hug bandwagon. However, she just walked over to Willow and smiled weakly, as she tried to stop herself crying. She tucked Willow's short, red hair behind her ear lovingly. She took her into a small hug, that was less tight than the others and shorter, but she smoothed down her hair like Mothers tend to do with their daughters and in fact didn't step away from her like the others did. She remained stood next to her as though afraid she was going to disappear. Willow was now officially more confused than she had ever been in her life previously.
"It's really nice that you guys missed me…" She told them warily, before a thought popped into her head, "Oh you guys didn't happen to do a bunch of drugs did ya?"
"Will," Buffy made an attempt to explain, "We saw you at the Bronze. A vampire."
Willow was at first shocked, but this quickly moved onto insulted.
"I'm not a vampire." She argued.
"You are" Buffy argued, but with a look from Willow she tried to correct herself, "I mean you were" God this was confusing, she thought and looked over at Giles for help, "Giles, planning on jumping in with an explanation anytime soon?"
"Well, uh, clearly, uh, something…. very strange is happening" He said.
"That's all you got for us?" Joyce asked sarcastically.
"Can you believe the watcher's council let this guy go?" Xander asked facetiously.
"So wait, you saw me…. at the Bronze?" Willow attempted to clear things up.
"Well Buffy and Xander did" Joyce explained, "Rupert and I weren't there" She paused, "Not that we would be there in the sense of being a 'we'. Would we?"
"And it was you Will" Buffy went on, frowning at her Mother babbling, "Except you were all vamped out."
"In every sense of the word-leather and everything" Xander went. On.
"This is creepy. I don't like the thought that there's a vampire out there that looks like me" Willow complained.
"Not looks, is" Xander corrected.
"It was exactly you Will. Every detail" Buffy confirmed, "Except for your not being a dominatrix…as far we know." Willow rolled her eyes.
"Oh right. Me and Oz play mistress of pain every night" She told them sarcastically but she was met with silence.
"Did everyone else just go to a scary visual place?" Xander asked, raising a hand and everyone nodded.
"How do we leave?" Joyce asked him with genuine concern. Before he could give her the step-by-step instructions of how to escape scary thoughts Angel came running in through the doors.
"Buffy…I…something's happened that…" Angel didn't know how to tell her, he really didn't so he opted to just come out and say it, "Willow's dead" He detected a movement out of the corner of his eye and saw Buffy's best friend. "Hey Willow" He greeted her and then did a double take. He looked at the group in confusion, "Wha-how, huh?"
"We're right there with you buddy," Xander told him with a nod. Angel glanced over and saw Giles and Joyce stood together, "Oh you two have-" The couple shook their heads violently and Angel stopped talking.
"You two have what?" Buffy asked in confusion.
"Yeah, what?" Xander asked, joining Buffy in being clue-free.
"Have…." Angel trailed off, "Have got to listen to what I have to say."
"Which is?" Buffy asked.
"Willow" Angel told them, "Or vampire willow. She's at the Bronze now with a cadre of vampires and looking to party."
The group stood up and started to head out,
"We figure out who she is after we stop the feeding frenzy" Buffy announced and headed out the door with Angel.
"Guys!" Willow called after them, following them out the door, "What are we going to do with me?"
As she left, Giles turned to Joyce.
"You should go home," He told her.
"But-"
"We don't know how dangerous it's going to be at the Bronze" He told her honestly, "I don't want you getting hurt" She went to argue, but he stopped her by kissing her on the lips briefly. "Please" He asked sincerely and Joyce found it very, very hard to say no.
The next night the couple were at Giles' making up for the date that had been cancelled the night before as they sat together over a bottle of red wine.
"From what you've told me," Joyce said, "I'm sort of glad I missed the scene at the Bronze. It sounds…."
"Dangerous?" He asked but she shook her head.
"Confusing." She corrected, "Which seems to be a big theme lately" She said and Giles senses a topic change as she placed her glass of wine down on the table, "With, erm, this."
"This?"
"What we have…going on here." She explained, "Keeping it from everyone…well, Buffy really, its getting quite complicated don't you think?" She asked and he nodded in defeat.
"I suppose so." He agreed, "We couldn't keep it secret forever could we?"
"And serious relationships should be out in the open don't you think?" Joyce asked watching for the reaction to her choice of words.
"Serious?" He asked, just as carefully.
"Well, I think what we have here counts as serious don't you?" She asked with a smile and he nodded.
"Yes, but" He thought for a moment, "Uh, do you mean uh good serious or, erm, bad serious?" He asked nervously and Joyce smiled warmly.
"Good serious. Definitely good serious" She told him, "So we tell Buffy…soon."
"Forgive me if I don't quite seem so eager for that scene to come to pass" Giles told her honestly. He had a feeling he was going to come out worse for wear after that little exchange.
"It'll be fine" Joyce brushed his concern aside, but then paused, "But maybe I should break the news to her alone…."
"I hope you won't consider me weak if I concur that suggestion" He told her.
"Not a chance" She answered honestly before the two started kissing.
