By Sauscony
E-mail: sauscony@forty-two.co.nz
Rating: R for a couple of rude words
Pairings: Buffy/Riley, Buffy/Giles (if you don't like either, stop reading now)
Summary: A prophecy says the Slayer's daughter will save the world. But's who's to be her father? And is there someone out to change things? (Set in the summer between seasons four and five.)
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel characters are copyrighted ©20th Century Fox, Joss Whedon, Mutant Eniy, UPN and the WB, and are used without permission. No copyright infringment is intended.
Buffy strolled along Revello Drive, enjoying the feel of the daylight on her shoulder blades and the normality of the moment. She'd left Willow at the Espresso Pump waiting for Tara and walked home, feeling safe in the knowledge they'd managed to put their damaged friendship back together. She'd seen Giles before patrol last night and Xander earlier in the day and she knew they were right with each other again. Riley was back from his debriefing tomorrow, Adam was an increasing distant memory, school was out and the monsters seemed to have taken a vacation of their own. There was even Scooby fun planned for the evening before patrol. In fact, all was right with the world. It might not last very long, but she was going to enjoy it while it did.
She paused for a moment to watch four small children shrieking with delight as they played under a garden sprinkler, carefully watched from a safely dry distance by their mothers. It was such a rare thing, to hear the gleeful laughter of children in Sunnydale, and Buffy found herself grinning, a little startled to discover the expression felt unfamiliar on her face.
One of the kids, a little girl of about three, with a mop of black curls who was running around clad only in Sesame Street knickers, saw her and waved. Buffy laughed and waved back and the child pulled a face at her and went back to playing in the falling water.
Buffy skipped up the steps to her own front door, her step a lot lighter than it had been in a long time, the grin still on her face. She pushed open the door and called out, "Mom, I'm home," as she let it swing shut behind her.
Joyce appeared at the top of the stairs a moment later. "How was Willow?" she asked her daughter with a smile.
"Very Willowy," Buffy answered whimsically, still caught up by that unusual feeling of happiness.
"I'm glad you've made up," Joyce said, coming halfway down the stairs and stopping again. "Mr Giles was here," she added almost reluctantly.
Buffy's head snapped up, the good mood gone in an instant. "What is it now?" she asked with a groan. "Vampires? Demons? The end of the world again?"
Joyce shook her head, filled as usual with an impossible desire to shield her baby girl from anything bad in the world. It didn't matter that her girl was pushing twenty and the Vampire Slayer besides, she still wished she could do it. It had been a hard lesson for Joyce Summers to learn; that she couldn't protect her daughter from her own destiny.
"A mystery."
"A mystery?" Buffy repeated in a puzzled voice.
"Hi," a voice said nervously from one side and Buffy turned to look into the lounge. She saw a girl standing there staring at her like she couldn't believe what she was seeing. She looked to be a couple of years younger than Buffy, with long dark hair and big, serious blue eyes. There was something in her gaze that took Buffy's breath away, made her want to run for the hills and hug this stranger until her ribs cracked, both at the same time.
"This is Becca," her mother's voice said from far away. "She's sort of lost. Mr Giles brought her to stay with us for a while."
"Hi," Becca said again, her voice still breathless and nervous, and a sudden moment of unexpected insight made Buffy realise the other girl was having the exact same escape-or-embrace reaction she had. Buffy took a deep breath, chalked it up to Hellmouth-induced weirdness and tried for a friendly grin.
"Hi, I'm Buffy."
She got a shy smile in return. "Rebecca."
Buffy strolled into the lounge with a casualness she didn't feel and flopped down onto the sofa. She wasn't surprised when Becca followed her.
"So you have a mystery?" she asked.
Becca smiled suddenly and Buffy was startled by the change it made in her. "I think I am the mystery. I appeared in Giles' bathroom this morning, through what he tells me is called a portal." For a second a mischievous grin appeared on the girl's face. "He was brushing his teeth."
Buffy tired to picture Giles doing something that simple and domestic and was rather surprised by just how easy it was. It was when she found herself contemplating what he might have been wearing - or not wearing as the case might be - that she forced her thoughts back to Rebecca, sitting carefully in the armchair across from her.
"Any idea where you came from?"
"I know where I came from," Becca answered immediately. "I just don't know how to get back."
Buffy raised her eyebrows.
To her amazement, Rebecca's hand flew to her mouth, her eyes going wide. Something in her expression, surprised and scared and awed all at once, made Buffy want to rush across the room and hug her and make everything better, and that really freaked her out.
"Are you okay?' she asked, wondering if she sounded even vaguely okay herself. Somehow she doubted it.
Becca swallowed, sniffed and nodded. "You just reminded me of my Mom," she said in a small voice.
The wig factor went up a notch. Buffy wasn't ready to consider herself in the light of a mother. She didn't know if she would ever feel herself ready to think about motherhood. And given the general lifespan of a Slayer, she probably wasn't ever going to have to worry about it.
"Oh," she said quietly, a little at a loss for how to respond. "Can you call her or something?"
"We tried that," Joyce answered, coming into the room on the end of the conversation. "The number doesn't exist. Mr Giles thinks Rebecca may come from a parallel dimension or something. He went home to research." The way she relayed the bizarre possibilities with such matter-of-factness caught Joyce by surprise. She wondered when she stopped fighting against Buffy's destiny and instead stepped whole-heartedly into her daughter's crazy world. Once, this would have sent her running screaming, now she stayed at home, waiting up for Buffy every night and trying to provide some semblance of normality while learning to accept the bizarre without blinking too much. And she rather thought Becca might need the same kind of treatment right now.
"So what do you girls want for dinner? I've made the spare bed up for Becca and she can stay with us until Mr Giles figures out how to get her home again."
She smiled at the younger girl, aware again that she was being watched as if she wasn't quite real.
"Nah, Mom." Buffy shook her head. "The guys are coming round with pizza and stuff." She glanced at Becca again. "I better call Xander and tell him to bring extra."
Joyce laughed. "Buffy honey, Xander always brings extra."
"Yeah, but there's extra and then there's extra," Buffy insisted with a grin as she found the phone on the coffee table and picked it up. "We don't want Becca to think we're stingy or anything." She started dialling. "Besides I'm providing the location, they're providing the food."
Joyce shrugged and gave Rebecca a conspiratorial grin. "If you want anything that actually belongs in one of the five food groups, I'll have something in the kitchen."
Buffy rolled her eyes at her mother and would have said something smart if Xander hadn't answered the phone.
Rebecca looked from mother to daughter and back again, something fragile in her gaze, as if she was living in a dream from which she was afraid she would soon wake.
Willow and Tara arrived, bearing cookies and videos, about two minutes before Xander and Anya turned up with pizza, soda and a battered box Anya refused to relinquish.
Becca watched all these people clatter in and make themselves at home, looking rather like a deer caught in oncoming headlights. Tara, having been there herself, smiled and tried to make her feel more at ease.
"They're harmless, really," she promised with a gentle smile. "Just a little overwhelming at first."
Becca nodded as Xander dumped pizza boxes on the coffee table and then draped himself all over one of the armchairs with all the familiarity of someone who did it often. Anya, still clutching her box, draped herself all over Xander.
"Give it to me, honey," Xander suggested, but Anya shook her head and stared at Becca.
"Who are you?" she asked bluntly.
Becca recoiled without realising she was doing it and it was Buffy, a stack of plates in her arms, who came hurtling to the rescue. She dumped the plates in Willow's hands and glared at Anya. "This is Becca. She's staying with us until Giles figures out how to send her home."
"Hellmouthy stuff," Xander said with an air of wisdom.
Anya's eyes narrowed. "Are you a demon? You can't have Xander."
"She's a normal human being," Buffy retorted. "Who might have come from a parallel universe," she added a little less certainly. "And she doesn't want Xander." She glanced at Becca. "Do you?"
Unable to help herself, Becca laughed. "No," she promised Anya. "I don't want Xander. I just want to figure out why I'm here and how to go home."
"A parallel dimension," Willow echoed thoughtfully. "Wow. I've read about those, but I've never met anyone who came from one. How different is it?"
Rebecca shrugged, clearly not knowing how to answer the question.
"She's only seen Giles' bathroom and our place," Buffy answered helpfully. "That's probably not enough to tell."
"Giles' bathroom?" Xander looked intrigued. "What were you doing in Giles' bathroom?"
"Having orgasms?" Anya suggested helpfully.
Becca turned a brilliant shade of scarlet, choked and almost fell off her chair. Buffy glared at the ex-demon before helping the younger girl regain her balance and her composure.
"Really, Ahn," Xander chided. He glanced around the room, at Willow and Tara's carefully expressionless faces, at Anya's uncomprehending one, at Buffy, furious and oddly protective of her strange houseguest. "Who's for pizza?" he asked a little too loudly.
"Pizza," Willow agreed gratefully, grabbing a paper plate and a slice of Hawaiian and taking the nearest seat. "Tara and I brought movies," she added as her girlfriend followed her example. "We have Singin' in the Rain and Ladyhawke, Roman Holiday, and The Princess Bride, just for Xander."
"I vote for Roman Holiday," Tara said in her quiet voice. "How about you, Becca?"
"I...I don't know," Becca said slowly. "I haven't heard of any of them."
"What?" Xander demanded, looking scandalised. He put on his best movie- voice. "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
Becca shook her head and he sighed. "You've missed a true cultural experience."
Willow smiled. "There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead." she quoted.
Buffy smiled and spoke softly. "Death cannot stop true love... All it can do is delay it for a while."
Rebecca was watching Buffy, whose eyes were suddenly far away. "I want to watch that one," she said with certainty.
"But we're going to play my game," Anya broke in petulantly.
Buffy shook away her thoughts and looked at Anya. "What game?" she asked cautiously.
"Xander's question game," Anya answered as if that explained everything.
"Please tell me we're not talking about Spin the Bottle," Willow begged in a worried voice.
"No," Xander answered quickly, sounding terrified at the thought. "Anya found my old Trivial Pursuit game. I tried to explain trivia might not be her strongest suit, but she wouldn't listen."
"We can play in teams," Anya insisted. "Xander and me, and Willow and Tara, and Buffy and Riley."
"Ah, look around Anya," Buffy suggested. "No Riley. He doesn't get back until tomorrow."
"Oh." Anya hesitated for a moment, then smiled broadly. "You can play with Rebecca instead." She dumped the box on the coffee table. "It's agreed."
Xander gave his friends an apologetic look.
Ten minutes later Ladyhawke was playing in the VCR - a compromise choice - everyone was eating pizza and the Trivial Pursuit board was set up on the coffee table.
Anya had claimed the pink playing piece and no-one dared argue with her. Willow and Tara had chosen green and Buffy and Becca found they had quickly agreed on the blue.
Tara was rolling the dice when Becca leaned over to Buffy and whispered quietly, "I don't know how to play this."
Buffy shook her head. "You really are from another dimension, aren't you?" Seeing Becca's expression she reassured her quickly. "It's easy. We get asked totally pointless questions and we try and answer them. Xander, the king of totally pointless, will probably win."
"Hey, I heard that," Xander protested, trying to sound offended.
"Unless the topics were demons and magic and mythology," Buffy continued as if he hadn't spoken. "Then if Giles was here he'd win hands down."
"He's a Watcher," Tara pointed out mildly. "He's got a natural advantage."
"An unfair advantage," Buffy corrected, but she was grinning.
"What's a Watcher?" Becca asked carefully.
Buffy shook her head. "This Slayer's off-duty tonight. At least until it's patrol time. I'll explain later." She fished a card out of the box beside her, glanced at the board to check which colour question she was asking and waved the card at Willow and Tara. "Trivia time! What flower family is the apple a member of?"
Willow blinked at her friend. "You've got to be kidding!"
"That's what the card says," Buffy insisted. She handed it across to Becca. "Back me up here, partner."
"That's what it says," she agreed.
Willow pulled a face and Buffy laughed. "Don't know everything after all, huh Wills?"
"The rose family," Tara said in her soft voice and it was Willow's turn to grin as Buffy's face fell.
She leaned over to give her girlfriend a hug and poked her tongue out at Buffy. "See, my girl's a genius."
Buffy cheerfully glared back. "So throw again already." She handed the box of question cards to Becca. "Your turn. Hopefully you'll get one the smarty witches can't answer."
The appellation of witch confused Becca for a moment, but after Willow had moved their marker piece and Becca checked the card for the next question, it seemed ironically appropriate.
"Which animals did the British stop executing for witchcraft in 1712?"
Anya's hand shot into the air. "I know that one! I know that one!"
"Hush, honey," Xander interrupted hurriedly. "It isn't our question. Let Will and Tara answer."
"But I know the answer," Anya protested grumpily.
"It's not our turn," Xander repeated.
Anya subsided with a frown, but Becca was close enough to hear her whisper, "Cats," about half a second before Willow answered the question correctly.
For Rebecca, only child of a well-disciplined home, that evening was a revelation. These people were insane, in a warm, comforting way she had never experienced before. They were a family, bound together by bonds she couldn't imagine that, judging by some of the things that were said, were far more bizarre - and dangerous - than falling though a swirly green vortex into someone's bathroom.
Anya was totally unacquainted with any concept of tact, and after turning various shades of crimson at her blunt comments, Becca slowly began to get used to it. She was hopeless at the game and her frustration at her lack of knowledge was only matched by her delight whenever her boyfriend could answer one of the questions, allowing her to push the pink marker around the board and gleefully add the little plastic chips that were the point of the game.
Xander was like the life and heart of the group, occasionally cringing at the things his girlfriend said, full of useless facts of trivia as Buffy had warned, a fount of bad jokes and silly comments and possessed of an integral honesty that was completely new to the younger girl.
Red-haired Willow was thoughtful and intelligent, with a hidden insecurity Becca could recognise because she carried one of her own. She was clearly Buffy's friend to the end of time and the love she had for Tara was obvious in her voice and her posture and the light in her eyes when she looked at the other woman.
Tara was Willow's quieter shadow, seemingly still a little overwhelmed by this "family" she had found herself in, and Becca liked her all the more for that. This boisterous, irreverent gathering was so unlike anything she had ever known and while part of her yearned to jump in with both feet, there was another part of her, the one trained by the experiences and expectations of her childhood, that was terrified by it.
But one thing was clearly obvious - Willow and Tara loved each other and the utter simplicity of it made Becca wonder yet again about the truth of the many absolutes her father had tried to teach her as she grew up. Love was love was love and surely turning away from it was a greater wrong.
And then there was Buffy.
Buffy was a revelation Becca couldn't get enough of. She was fun, she was silly, she clearly loved these friends of hers as if they were family. She laughed as she tried and failed to answer the impossibly trivial questions; occasionally she snapped and her friends shrugged it off as if it was typical. She praised Becca with glowing delight when the younger girl knew an answer she didn't and crowed with slightly malicious satisfaction when they pulled ahead of Xander and Anya.
She was far from perfect, but she was bright and alive and so full of spirit and life that Becca felt like she was being blinded by it. And she felt she would be willing to go sightless forever just to keep that light alive.
I couldn't believe this bright, laughing, confident woman. Watching her teasing her friends, lighting the room with her presence and her personality made me want to cry inside. But I couldn't decide if it was in sorrow over what I knew was to come or in joy at the person she had been and I had now been blessed to meet.
