Beyond Death's Gifts
by Phoenixstitch 5/22/2001
All disclaimers, etc. in Part 1. My take on what happened next after "The Gift." Comments to Vickey/phoenixstitch at vbmacky1@yahoo.com
Part 2
With great relief Giles and Willow watched Spike and Dawn leave through the back before the first cop came into the main work area. Xander sat with Anya, who was beginning to wake up, cradled in his arms on the stairs that lead upward towards the roof, and the ritual platform. There were about a dozen uniforms, and plainclothes men, plus emergency medical personnel in the group that cautiously approached the Scoobies. Giles had dealt with several of the detectives before, and so had Buffy. The police, the Slayer and the Watcher had worked out an uneasy truce, and means of dealing with the weirdness of the Hellmouth after the Graduation Day mess. That had been a bit more public than previous end of the world events, so explanations had had to be forthcoming. Since then the police had even called him to get Buffy to eliminate problem demons, and phenomena that they couldn't handle. This mess was not going to be as easy to explain, or get out since one of the victims was the Slayer herself, and there had been actual murder done.
Unlike most demons, Glory's crusty minions were leaving intact, dead bodies. There were also dead humans among them, and a few unidentifiable types too. This had been a blood bath with plenty of blood splattered over the walls, floors and other surfaces, including the Scoobies own clothes. There was also the matter of weapons too, like swords, knives, crossbows, battle axes, and the Troll hammer.
The lead detective, a portly, balding man close to Giles' age, took the entire scene in with raised eyebrows, noticing everything, shaking his head, and then frowning in disgust when he saw the waiting survivors. "You again? Mr. Giles, is it?" inquired Detective Kent, as he walked over the very tired Watcher who was sitting on a crate.
Giles nodded, wanting to answer all the man's in interminable questions so he could just go home, and begin the weary job of making funeral arrangements for Buffy.
"And Miss Rosenburg, and Mr. Harris, we met again. But I don't recognize this young lady," pointing to Tara holding hands with Willow looking scared as they sat on the floor.
"Tara, ..sir," she said meekly with a noticeable tremble in her voice.
"You have a last name?" the detective asked, coming closer to her.
Giles interrupted. Tara was not in any shape to answer questions. "Can't that wait till later, Det. Kent? We have injured here, and I would like to get them medical help," Giles spoke up, trying to divert the man's attention from the blonde witch who was shaking enough from the fight, and all that they had been through. He really disliked this man as he tended to be a bully, and a lot of times really couldn't comprehend the supernatural things he was dealing with.
"Yes, I can see that. And where is Miss Summers? She's usually at the heart of something like this," the man asked huffing, looking around, expecting Buffy to pop up anytime in his face like she usually did.
In a quiet, somber tone Giles announced, "she's dead. She fell to her death saving this world. She sacrificed herself to close a portal that was opening between dimensions. If she had failed none of us would be standing here—at all," Giles said, then pointed back behind him to Buffy's tarp covered body.
The detective had not expected that answer, and he was visibly shaken as he had seen the girl in action and was impressed at her abilities. It really must have been a bad fight to take out this fighter. "I take it this was worse than the Mayor being a giant snake?"
"Much, much, much worse," Xander piped up from his corner. "Entire destruction of the universe, and everything bad—not just our world bad."
"Ohh," was all the cowed detective could say as the words the young man were saying sunk in. "And these not so pleasant looking whatevers were on the opposite side trying to open this portal thingy?" he asked pointing to a couple of the crusty minions on the floor.
"Correct. Buffy killed the Goddess responsible for this. Her name was Glory, and she wanted to open the portal, so she could get back to her dimension, However, opening her dimension would have also opened the gates between everyone's dimension which would have resulted in complete chaos, and the destruction of all life everywhere."
"Lovely," the detective commented, unsure what he could add to that, and glad it hadn't been him, or his men trying to stop this Glory. They wouldn't have stood a chance, and he knew it. "I had been hearing the name around town. She had some of the bad elements around here really scared. And Miss Summers' stopped her? She stopped a real, honest to goodness goddess?" he asked incredulously, knowing that the petite blonde was capable of doing quite a lot, but going head to head with a real god weirded even him out..
"Glory was weakened from fighting all of us, and so lacked the energy to fight back as she could have done because the time for her ritual to return was upon her too," Giles explained, trying to keep it simple.
"So can you give me a run down of what occurred here," the detective asked taking out his notepad to take notes on.
"I shall endeavor to do as best I can," Giles replied, stealing a glance over to Xander to see that the EMS personnel were taking Anya from him, and putting her on a gurney to transport her to the hospital. Another paramedic was crouched down with an open bag next to Tara and Willow examining their injuries, and treating them. Beyond them he could see several uniforms, and another medtech bending over the body of Ben. Other officers were poking through the overturned crates, and wood piles to look for victims either alive or dead. It had been bad, but someone besides themselves need to know what this brave girl had done, and sacrificed for everyone—Watcher's Council orders be damned. The girl had been a true hero all the way.
"It began earlier this fall when Buffy rescued some Monks from Glory who was looking for the key back to her dimension," Giles began to explain, altering some of the facts slightly to protect Dawn's pivotal part in this.
When Giles came to the end of his report, the man eyed the other and asked, "and this other sister, where is she at?" Det. Kent inquired.
"In LA with friends, visiting," Giles lied, trying to buy the girl some time until they could figure out what to do. "We thought it best to keep her out of this mess, especially since Glory was threatening all of us in her search for the key."
"I see. I know that that the mother, Mrs. Summers died recently, why is the child not with her father?"
"He is out of the country on business, and until it was settled he was letting Buffy continue with Dawn in their house here as to not disrupt her school and life, more than it had been with their mother's death. Since the father was still unavailable our friends in LA were a viable choice for the child's safety."
"And who are these people? Are they like you, and this group fighting monsters too?" Kent asked pointedly.
"Sometimes," Giles admitted. "But she is in good hands in case there was danger from Glory's people."
"I see. I do wish to contact them, and assure myself that the girl is all right in view of her father being unavailable ,and Miss Summers' death. I need their names, addresses, and means of contacting them," he told Giles, who was trying not to flinch, or look to Willow for help.
"Dawn is staying with Miss Cordelia Chase at her apartment. But you can also contact Mr. Wesley Wyndham-Pryce, and Mr. Angel O'Connor. They all work together at Angel Investigations, a detective agency for problems such as this one," Giles added.
"Is the child aware her sister is dead?"
"We have not had a chance to inform her yet, and I do wish you would allow us to handle that matter since she is still grieving for her mother," Giles told him firmly. He was lying through his teeth, and hoped the detective wouldn't see that. Mainly, he was trying to buy them all time to warn Angel what had happened, and give them a chance to figure out what to do with Dawn.
"Well, Mr. Giles, normally in a situation like this where the guardians of the child are deceased, and all other family members cannot be located then social services are usually called in. However, having gotten to know how tight of a group you are, and recognizing the names of the Angel staff as being part of this group too, I will give you an brief extension of time to inform the child, and to locate a family member for her to go to—otherwise I will have to call social services in on this case. Are we clear, Mr. Giles?" Detective Kent asked pointedly at the older man who was now being examined by a paramedic.
"Quite clear, Detective, and I thank you for
your kindness for Dawn's sake." Giles replied
sincerely, and breathed a mental sigh of relief.
"I lost a sister to the monsters around here.
So I do understand loss. Miss Summers was a real hero,
that much I can say. She will be missed by my men,
I know that," he told Giles, as the coroner bent
over Buffy's body examining her before she was
moved, and put into a body bag. "Will they be
releasing the other slayer whom I understand is still
in jail, or will another slayer be called?"
"Honestly, I don't know what will be happening. I assume another has been called, but whether she is sent here to Sunnydale is up my Watcher's Council to decide. Slayers are sent where they are needed most."
"Pity, there aren't more like Miss Summers to spread around, or that Initative bunch hadn't all cleared out. Will your group still be working?"
"I don't know, detective. I really don't know. That is something we haven't discussed yet. Let us bury our dead first, then we'll deal with those questions," Giles told him as the paramedic finished cleaning up his cuts, and injuries.
"Fine, but I will be in touch with you. You are still at the Magic Box?"
"Yes. Are we free to go?" Giles asked.
"For the moment," the man agreed, and left Giles to walk over to where the coroner was examining Buffy, and the crime scene.
Other forensic people were also examining the scene, and taking samples. One in particular was following the bloody trail of Dawn's bare footprints from the stairs across the concrete floor to Buffy's body. There was also the clear imprint of a man's heavy boot across one of those footprints. On the platform, too, were found more bare footprints, a woman's booted print, and lots of dried blood spattered all over. Later would be found the knife with three different DNA types on it. Blood closely resembling Miss Summers', an unknown species' blood, and one which they could identify belonging to a vampire. In one of the back offices they would find more bloody footprints by a chair, several partial finger prints, and a boot print.
Then there was the matter of the young, dark haired man dressed in woman's clothing. The man, an intern, later identified to have been recently let go at Sunnydale Hospital, had been beaten by a heavy object mainly on his head, face and upper torso. The identified weapon that had been used seemed to be a large, and strangely shaped hammer of heavy stone that even the strongest man had a hard time lifting. They knew that the small girl had been incredibly strong, but what didn't make sense was if this hammer was used to beat this guy, why wasn't his face smashed to pulp and all the bones in his body shattered completely? He was, or had been human, hadn't he? At least his blood was that they found splattered on the stone like surface of the hammer when they tested it. But the beating hadn't killed him—he had been smothered to death, but by whom? Somehow Detective Kent did not see the Summers' girl doing it. The coroner suspected it had been a man. That left the Englishman, Mr. Harris, and evidently an unknown third male who had vanished from the scene, and who had left the boot prints near Miss Summers' body. Should this be labeled a justifiable homicide, murder, or what? Or should this mess just be quietly shoved under the table under the heading of best to not really know'?
Much of this case would never make sense, or could it be explained reasonably. They had dozens of similar files, missing persons reports, and reports of odd things since the mid nineties when Miss Summers had shown up in town. Maybe with her death things would finally quiet down, and go back to the way they had been. Though somehow the detective had a sinking feeling that that was not going to be the case here. There might be a lull in activity for a while, but the weirdness would be back full force, and much worse because she was not here to stop it.
Detective Kent sighed heavily, and shook his head looking at his teams at work, already imagining the paperwork on this case. He noted that while he had been with the coroner, Mr. Harris had left with injured girl, and the two young women had also left, but Mr. Giles was still there watching them all work. "I thought you were leaving, Mr. Giles?" he asked.
"I will when the coroner leaves with Miss Summers. Someone has to handle the paperwork, and Mrs. Summers before she died had left that to me in case anything did happen to her daughter. We working on my having legal guardianship of Dawn as well, but before it could be acted upon she died suddenly," Giles explained.
"I see," Kent said understanding, and relieved there was someone for handling this since the girls' father could not be immediately located.
"You were very close to the deceased, and the family?"
"Yes, she was the daughter I never had. I loved her very muchmore than she will ever know. She was courage personified, all that was noble, and right in this sorry bloody worldher time with us was way too short," Giles, said, trying to hold it together. "I came here to be her mentor, her teachernot knowing her at allhaving very set ideas of how she was to be trained, and dealt with. Her being called initially was a shock to my group. She should have been identified at a much earlier age, and trained. By the time I got her she had already lost her first Watcher, I was her second, and I was determined to train her properly as she should have been. Buffy was totally different from any slayer from the beginning, stubborn, defiant, determined to do things her way, but also self sacrificing, loyal, clever, and sometimes brilliant with unerring instincts as what would work, or not in a situation. With her I had to throw out the rule books, and go by my instincts, and my heart. My organization frowns on too personal of an involvement with our charges. We train these poor girls to be fighters, to work alone, no friends, no family, no social life, or involvement with others. They are to be invisible to the world, and people whose lives they save without thanks. With Buffy I broke everyone of those rules, and it did work out. In the end she was the most successful slayer that has ever been. Very few slayers live past their eighteenth birthdays," Giles explained, wanting the other man to know this brave girl.
"That's a real bitch," the man said. "And they accept this?"
"Most do willingly as they are Chosen', that was why they were born. Buffy was never real happy about this honor, and did fight it, but in the end she accepted her destiny, and tried to be the best that she could," Giles told him with a touch of sad pride in his voice.
They both watched as Buffy's bagged body was put into the coroner's van, next to Ben's which had already been put in along with several of the other victims of the fight, and the doors were slammed shut.
"Do you think I can get a ride back with the doctor?" Giles asked, "my car is still back at the shop. We all walked here from there."
He really should have headed back to the shop first, and made calls from there to the Council, and to others, but something was telling him to go with the coroner, and make sure they didn't do an autopsy, or embalm the girl. He would have to come up with a very good excuse for them not to, but to let them do it would be a terrible mistake he felt.
Kent nodded, filing the bit of information away in his head of the group having walked not rode there, then he turned, and yelled at the Doctor getting ready to leave. "Hey, Jase, can you give Mr. Giles a lift? He's got to do the paperwork on Miss Summers anyway."
"Sure, Len, no problem," the coroner replied, not upset about the request. He had a few questions anyway about some odder than normal things he and his people had found so far. With a wave of his hand he motioned for Giles to join him.
"Thanks," Giles told him, putting his glasses back in his pocket. "If you have more questions I can be reached at the shop, home, or at the hospital," he added, and with a slight limp in his walk he then went to the black van, and got in.
After Giles left the detective went back to his work of trying to make sense of what really had happened in the warehouse, and he just knew in his bones there was much more to the story he had been told, much, much more. And this time he was going to find out the whole truth.
End Part 2
Yes, there is more coming with view points from the different characters.
