Part 2: Remember Me
It was one thirty in the morning when Dawn had called for an emergency meeting of the Scoobies, and Giles could think of nothing that would warrant such a thing. Unless, of course, Glory had somehow broken free of the Shadow World. That simple thought had put a rush on his getting ready and heading for the shop. Giles rubbed at his eyes, as he walked into the brightly lit magic shop, already filled with the rest of the Scooby gang.
Tara sat at the table, still dressed in her pajamas, and Xander and Anya stood at the counter, oohing and ahhing over their daughter. The young witch stood up upon seeing Giles, and walked over to him quickly.
"Do you know what this is about?" she asked him hopefully.
"Unfortunately, no. I was hoping that you all might."
"Nope, not a clue," Xander said walking towards the two. "All we know is Joyce told us to come to the Magic Box when we went to pick up Jessie. She looked kind of pale though. Like she'd seen a ghost or something."
"See, I always told you that you were something," Dawn said from the training room door. The teen came into the main area, and a familiar blonde emerged from the back, staring a hole in the back of her sister's head.
"Am not," she told her walking out into the light. She shrunk back to herself when she saw the way they were looking at her. "Hey, guys."
A pale Xander stepped forward first, his face locked in permanent shock and he began to examine her. Slowly, he reached up and touched her forehead, as if he were afraid she was some sort of hallucination that would fade away. When he found skin, he pushed a little harder on the second time, and even harder on the third.
"Hey, with the poking," Buffy said stepping back from him.
"Buffy?" he gasped.
"Oh, dear Lord," was all Giles could sputter.
"Told you it was more fun to scare the hell out of them." Dawn smiled brightly from her perch on the stairs.
"Yeah, and you were so much better," Buffy answered, with a play scolding look. "And don't use that kind of language."
"Okay, Mom," the teen said.
"Are you a vampire?" Anya asked bluntly, acting as if she were unafraid even if she were.
"What? No," Buffy answered. "Why does everyone keep asking me that?"
"Nope, she's among the living," Dawn agreed. "Saw her doing her hair in the mirror and everything before we got here."
"Oh," Anya said, as she picked up her baby and walked past the still frozen Xander to her. "I'm glad you're not dead." She turned to Xander. "Can we go home now? I'm tired."
"Buffy," he said again, still horse as ever.
"Yeah?" she said cautiously.
His eyes scanned up and down her form, then he launched himself at her and grabbed as tightly as possible. She was surprised by his actions, but seemed to understand and let him hold her for a few minutes. "Um, Xander, breathing kinda becoming an issue."
He finally pulled away from her, and just stared at her in the face. "I-I can't believe..."
"Well, I'm really here," she told him with a kind smile. "And I'm not going anywhere, for a long time."
"But-but where have you been?! I mean, we thought you'd be singing a hundred bottles of beer on the wall in Davy Jones' Locker! But you're here, and not there, and-and-and-"
"Xander, maybe you want to try breathing before you pass out," she suggested.
"Yeah, breathing good," the young man said to himself.
"But, Buffy, where were you?" Tara asked in a cautious kindness like only she could.
"Yes, people just don't come back from the dead," Anya added. "Well, unless they're vampires, but you're not, so it has to be something else. Oh! I know, did you make a deal with Hades? Because I know he's always looking for spirits of those wrongfully killed to be sent back to the world of the living and distribute justice. No, it couldn't be that, because then you would probably being trying to kill someone or something instead of standing here talking to us. Unless he sent you here to kill one of us. He didn't, did he?"
"I was never dead!" the slayer spat at the babbling vengeance demon.
"Then where were you?" Xander asked. "You didn't runaway again, did you?" he continued, the tone clearly afraid that she might have.
"No," she answered with a jerk of her head.
"Alright, that's quite enough. Give the poor girl some space to breath," Giles heard himself say.
The other Scoobies finally realized that they had been crowding the returning slayer, and each backed away from ever so slowly. Still, the watcher inside of Giles forced him to ask, "But, really, Buffy, where did you go?"
"It's a long story, Giles," she sighed. The middle aged man watched as she looked down to the ground, and she looked as if she might start crying.
"Buffy? Are you alright?" Tara asked gently, moving her hand towards her.
"No! I mean, I come back and Anya calls
me a vampire, Xander tries and kills me by squishing me to death, and now
you're all asking me a bunch of questions and not letting me answer any of them
and I didn't get so much as a hello! And-and-and where the hell is Willow?!"
Giles blinked for a moment at the outburst. Buffy was right. She had returned, something that he had never expected her to do, and he hadn't even greeted her before letting the Watcher take over. His shoulders slumped as he sighed and thought, Sod the watcher.
"Oh, my darling girl," he said pulling her into an embrace, much softer then the one Xander had crushed her with only minutes before. She held onto him for what seemed like forever, before they pulled away. Giles could feel the tears threaten to spill over. He could see hers were already falling, but these were happy ones from finally being properly greeted.
"Great, now you've got her cryin' again," a sharp British voice said from the doorway that both Dawn and Buffy had emerged from.
No. It couldn't be.
Giles looked up to see the vampire he had long thought himself rid of standing there, his arms crossed as he stared at the watcher and Buffy standing directly across from him. There was something different about him, but Giles just couldn't put his finger on what.
"Oh, great," Xander said throwing his hands up. "What is this? Good news, bad news?"
Spike glared at him for a moment and then turned to Dawn. "Niblet, you mind..."
"Sure," she said jumping off the stairs and going back into the training room before the vampire ventured into the shop more.
"He's like a bad penny," Xander said shaking his head. "You know, with the turning up thing."
Giles looked over and saw that both Tara and Anya were studying him. They noticed something different, as well. It was probably Anya's demon connection that alerted her, and Tara's extra sensory perception. Giles decided the best way to play this was to be polite, even if he didn't like the bleach blond.
"Spike," he said almost kindly. "When did you get back into town?"
He shrugged. "A couple of hours ago, with the Slayer."
Xander's eyes grew wide as he whipped his head around to look at Buffy. "You were with him?"
"I thought you seemed different," Anya said to Spike. "I just didn't realize that it would come from sleeping with Buffy."
The slayer's eyes widened and Spike covered a laugh.
"I am not sleeping with him!" she exclaimed, horrified at the idea. He looked over at her, and raised his scarred eyebrow. Buffy shrunk away from the look. Giles definitely didn't like that.
"It's not that," Tara spoke up, studying the vampire even closer now. When all eyes turned towards her, she shrunk away in embarrassment. "It-it looks like he's got a soul."
Spike smiled at the witch, reached up, touched his nose, and pointed to Tara with his free hand, saying, "Kewpie doll for the lady."
The three adults stared blankly at him. Spike, William the Bloody, with a soul?
Xander was the first to say anything. Turning to Buffy, he said, "How are you able to find the only souled vampires on the planet?"
"It's a gift, I guess," she answered almost sheepishly.
"But, he didn't have a soul when he left," Tara pointed out. "How did you get one now? Another gypsy curse?"
"Chalk it up to my own stupidity," he said, sitting down on the stairs that Dawn had been perched on moments before. Giles could tell that he wanted a cigarette when he began to nervously play with his hands, but for some reason he held back. The Watcher had never known Spike to be courteous, so there must be another reason as to why he was refraining from smoking in his shop. "It's a very long story, but the abridged version is I went to a demon, passed some trials of his, and got a wish. Unfortunately for me, I worded my wish wrong, and instead got a new soul to show off."
"Remarkable," Giles said, now looking at the vampire as if he was some sort of new specimen to study. "Are there any side effects or clauses we should be aware of?"
Spike smirked at him, knowing full well that he was going want to study him now that he knew he had a soul. "None I know of. From what I understand, this thing has set up permanent residency inside of me."
He was talking about having a soul like it was some sort of parasite! Did he realize what this meant?! Vampires just didn't go around and get souls. There were probably prophecies that needed to found, information to look up. Giles could literally feel the Watcher inside of him stirring awake. From beside him, he could hear Buffy laugh.
"You've done it now, fang breath," she told Spike crossing her arms. "Giles got himself a new project, and he won't stop until he knows everything."
The vampire's face fell slightly. He looked at her and said lowly, "Please don't call me a project, love."
Something seemed to go off in Buffy's head, and she regretted using the word. She reached up and held herself, turning away from his gaze. This was very odd.
A yelp came from the back room that Dawn had disappeared to, and, a second later, the teen emerged carrying a baby who was firmly pulling on her long, brown hair.
"Buffy, a little help," she said trying to free her hair from the grip, but failing miserably.
The blonde went to her sister, finally being able to pry the little fingers open and taking the child before she had a chance to get a hold of the hair again. The child's attention was drawn away from the activity as she noticed all the eyes that were fixed on her. The baby then sunk into closer to Buffy's hold. The slayer smiled sweetly at her, then turned back to her friends who, once again, were shocked into being speechless, except for Xander, who just didn't seem to understand what was going on.
"Oi, you lot are scarin' her," Spike bit at them, jumping up from the stairs and heading towards Buffy and Dylan. Buffy glanced over her shoulder at him, a pleading look on her face, which caused him to back down. But the vampire's eyes were still hard on the group that stood before them, warning them to back away or he would make them.
"She's usually not this shy," Buffy said, as she began to sway with her and ignored the bleached blond behind her.
"Hey, Buff. Who's the kid?" Xander asked.
"Her name's Dylan," she told him.
"Is she yours?" Giles carefully.
Xander's eyes went wide as he looked at the Watcher, then back at the Slayer. "No. Buffy's kid? That's funny, G-man. Tell him, Buffy."
Buffy suddenly became very interested in the child, holding her face close to hers, her lips barely pressed to her forehead. The boy looked as if he had swallowed his tongue as he slowly began to accept the knowledge.
"I...think I need...to....sit down," he said slowly sinking to the floor, and bracing himself against the counter. Tara bent down next to him to make sure he was alright. Anya approached her, her own child beginning to stir.
"My baby's still prettier. And smaller."
Buffy just smiled, shook her head, and turned back to Giles. He could see that she wanted him to say anything about the fact that she was now a mother, but he just couldn't find his voice. This was all too much for one night. Buffy's return, Spike being with her, him being ensouled, and now a baby. Suddenly, joining Xander on the floor didn't seem to be such a bad idea.
"Giles, say something," she said in a pleading voice.
His senses started to snap back to him. Her face was contorted to where she looked as if she were afraid that he would send her away, disgusted at what she had done. He had almost forgotten how much she looked up to him as a father. Now, that same girl was holding a daughter of her own, asking him for some sort approval. A kind smile slowly emerged on his face.
"Congratulations, Buffy," he said reaching out and gently touching her cheek.
Her face brighten so much that he thought that it could illuminate the room if he turned off the lights. With that one word, he had lifted a ton of weight off her shoulders.
"Thank you," she said holding the baby even closer to her, knowing now Dylan would have a Grandpa Giles. The slayer blinked after a moment, then asked again, "But, really, guys, where is Willow?"
******