Disclaimer- All recognizable characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy and etc. I own Jamie and one other character that will make an appearance.
Note- Okay I'm back at Uni from Monday so updates will be slow, you have been warned.
Reviewers Responses (Everyone gets a cookie or other baked good of choice):
Driel- Some of Giles's reactions to the revelation shown in this chapter, hope you like.
Spike26- /rubs hands together/ Yes I'm an evil, evil writer, I love cliffhangers. Thank you.
Aynot- Cliffhangers are fun, okay maybe not for you but they are for me /Grin/. /Big blush/ you think it's a gem, wow thanks. That's one of the best complements I have ever gotten.
Kylia Skydancer- I think Jamie's going to make Willow see how he feels about her soon, he's not really that patient. Hope you enjoyed your cookie!
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Chapter 10Buffy bit her lip, looking to Giles and Jamie for help. Giles stared into her eyes for a second before looking and Jamie shrugged subtly. Buffy gestured towards the table. "Why don't you sit down?"
Joyce frowned, her foot starting to tap harder. "I don't want to sit down, I want you to tell me what's going on. I won't let you keep me in dark again, Buffy. I know you're a slayer and that you have duties and I won't let you guard me for them any more. I'm your mother, Buffy. I'm the one meant to be protecting you. I want to know what you're up against, if you've been fighting a vampire or saving the world-"
"I was." Buffy interrupted her. "Fighting a vampire. A big vampire, he was… big. Wasn't he, Jamie?"
Jamie nodded quickly. "Right, he was massive. Very hard to kill, took all night."
Buffy beamed at him. "Right, and then we came back here to tell Giles and Snyder caught us and sent us to our classes."
"Really?" Joyce asked Giles. "Was that it?"
Giles swiftly masked the spark of hurt that had flared up in his eyes when Buffy had started her explanation behind his calm, stiff upper lip, British façade. "Yes, I assure there was nothing any more life endangering."
Joyce furrowed her brow, her arms crossed. She glanced towards Jamie. "But you and Willow came to my house this morning looking for Buffy."
Jaime's eyes widened, he had almost forgotten about that. "Yeah, well, you see. We kind of lost track of Buffy, we couldn't keep up with her when she chased the vampire. We found her though."
Joyce looked at the three of them as she chewed a nail; a childhood nervous habit that she had fallen back into when she found out Buffy was a slayer. "Alright, but I want you home tonight before patrol. You have to eat and Dawn is worried sick about you."
Buffy smiled reassuringly and hugged her mother. "Okay, I'll be home for dinner, you can tell the brat to stop worry."
Joyce shook her head. "You shouldn't talk about your sister like that, family's important."
Buffy's eyes skipped quickly to Giles and Jamie before coming back to rest on her mother. "I know, Mom, I know."
Joyce suddenly let out a laugh and wiped under her eyes. "Oh, you must think me to be a silly emotional mother."
Jamie shook his head, "Of course not, Mrs. Summers. It's understandable when your daughter's a slayer."
Joyce turned to Giles, her memory having finally caught up with her. "You told me you didn't have any children."
Giles took half a step back as pain wrote itself over Jamie and Buffy's faces. His spine stiffened, his voice becoming icy. "I did no such thing."
Joyce put her hands on her hips. "Yes you did. When there was that gas leak, I came into the library to find Buffy but she wasn't here like she was supposed to be. I asked you if you had any children and you said no."
Giles ran a hand through his hair. "I assure you that wasn't me speaking. I was neural clamped by an infant bezoar, I can't be held responsible for anything that was said under those circumstances. Especially when the only objective was to gain more servants for the bezoar."
"A what?" Joyce looked to Buffy.
"A big ugly demon, you remember those eggs we had to take care of?"
Joyce nodded.
"Well, they were its babies. The eggs hatched all over the school and turned all these people into drones." Buffy explained. "You were clamped as well, until I was thrown into the hole with the bezoar and killed it. The babies all kind of died after that."
Giles removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "And the events were blamed on a gas leak."
"Oh." Joyce said numbly.
Jamie crossed his arms and scowled. He sighed as he felt a warm hand on his arm, the scowl fading as Buffy squeezed his arm comfortingly. He looked up and shared a small smile with her.
Joyce jumped as her mobile rang. She riffled through her bag, finally pulling out the phone in triumph. She hit the talk button, a frown settling over her features as soon as the person on the line started to speak. "Right, okay don't do anything until I get there. I'll handle it."
Joyce stuffed the phone back into her bag and frantically tried to straighten her hair and clothes. "I'm sorry, Buffy, but that was the gallery. One my orders for the new showing as been misplaced, they're all falling apart down there. I have to fix it."
"It's fine, Mom. Go, I'll see you at dinner."
Joyce started for the door, before stopping and turning. "Could you take care of Dawn? I can't really take her with me and she let all her school things at home."
Buffy's mouth dropped open. "What? Dawn got the day off school? That's so unfair. You never let me have a day if I'm not sick."
"Buffy." Joyce warned.
She pouted. "Fine, okay we'll look after her. Where is she anyway?"
"I left her with Willow in the Student Lounge, thanks, honey. Oh, Rupert, you and Jamie should come over for dinner one night."
Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, we will keep that in mind. Thank you."
Joyce became flustered as her phone started to ring again. "I really do have to go. I'll see you at dinner, Buffy." The doors swung shut quietly behind her.
The smile faded from Buffy's face as she faced Giles. His jaw was clenched so tightly she was afraid he was going to break his teeth. His fists flexed compulsively, his eyes flared angrily and a strange hybrid of his usual clucking sound and a growl was reverberating from his throat.
"I couldn't do it, I'm sorry."
Her statement was meet with stony silence.
Anger started to rise in Buffy. "I just found out about this myself, how can you expect me to explain it all to my mom?"
"We just found out too, Buffy. We were all in the same room." Jamie spoke, hurt barely veiled.
"I know that! But it was just last night, everything's still all confusing."
"It is for all of us, Buffy." Giles's voice was quiet.
"Is it? Is it really? Because you're just standing there with a hurt expression on your face, like you thought everything was fine. I know that I'm confused; I know that Jamie's confused but you… you just stand like everything is normal, all calm and British. You stand there with your British emotionless-ness while Jamie and I are falling apart around you. I just don't understand!"
"Neither do I!" Giles's bellow echoed through the library, startling his children. "I don't understand it either, Buffy. My emotions are just as chaotic as yours. I thought my daughter was dead! I never thought that she would pop up years later as my slayer! Then last night I find out the girl I sent out night after night to be killed by demons was my child! Not only that but the Watchers Council knew it, they knew you were my child when they sent me here and they didn't say a damn thing! They stole you from me! They were prepared to let you die never knowing your biological family!
Giles took a deep breath. "I loved you like a father before last night. I've done everything I can think of to keep you alive. Every night it was getting harder and harder to watch you go into that darkness, not knowing if you were going to come back. I've done everything to allow you to have a normal life, even though you can never be normal, none of us can."
"I know, Giles. And I'm thankful for everything you've done, and haven't done. I do care about you, I do; but I can't call you dad yet. I just can't. And I can't tell my mom yet, not until I get things figured out. But that doesn't mean I'm denying you and Jamie as my family, you are; just like Mom and Dawn are my family too. I just need some time to sort everything out before Mom gets all wiggy as well."
Giles leaned against the table, the anger draining away, taking his strength with it. "All right. I'll give you time; she is your mother after all. Even if she didn't give birth to you, she still raised you as her own. And I am grateful that you were placed with a wonderful woman like your mother, there are worse mothers you could have been given to."
Buffy peered at him. "Thank you. I'm sorry I never got know her, my biological mother. She sounds really nice."
Jamie slung his arms around Buffy's shoulders. "I never got to meet her either."
Giles smiled at his two children. "She would have been so proud of the both of you, as proud as I am. It baffles me as to how I managed to acquire such amazing children."
Buffy and Jamie grinned. "Just lucky I guess."
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A/N: You didn't think I'd let Joyce know yet did you? It's much more fun to drag it out, but don't hurt me because there is a plotty reason she hasn't been told yet. And, hey look no cliffhanger!