Giles had been correct, the door to Joyce's room was open and the bed was
made, and Dawn's room was in the same condition. As he and Buffy stood at
the top of the stairs, clasping hands, they could hear Dawn rustling around
in the kitchen.
"What do you think she's doing?" Giles was nervous, he was whispering and he couldn't seem to let go of Buffy's hand.
"She's probably making some breakfast. We should probably go help her." Buffy started down the steps, then stopped, and looked at the hand that she was holding, kissed it and let go.
Buffy was already in the kitchen before Giles had started down the stairs.
Just as Giles was reaching the foot of the stairs, the doorbell rang. Through the glass, he could see a bobbing orange blob, and he felt relief that Willow was the first to arrive. Dawn came running around the corner from the dining room, and almost ran Giles down.
"Giles!" Dawn smiled sadly at him, but managed to squeeze out a giggle, "I didn't know you were down yet."
An embarrassed smile grew upon his face, "Yes, well, I couldn't sleep the day away, we've got a lot to do." He couldn't look at her, he was sure that she would know what he had done.
"Are you getting it?" Dawn made a small gesture toward the door with her hands.
"Wha..?"
"The door?" Dawn pointed in the direction of the bobbing orange blob.
"You can get it, I'm going to get some tea."
Giles walked towards the kitchen and heard Dawn mumble something under her breath about the English and tea.
Buffy was standing in front of the open refrigerator door. She pulled out a pitcher of orange juice and turned around. She smiled at him.
"Good morning, Giles, OJ?"
"I prefer something a little stronger." At Buffy's somewhat disgusted look, Rupert realized she thought he was referring to something alcoholic. "Do you have any tea?"
Buffy held the pitcher in both hands, looking around the kitchen, "Mom doesn't, didn't have, had," Buffy took a deep breath as she corrected herself," anything but herbal tea. Is that okay?"
"I need some caffeine this morning, do you have coffee?"
Buffy's face lost a little bit of its glow, as her eyes focused behind Giles, "Coffee, yeah."
Giles looked over his shoulder and smiled weakly at Willow as she entered the room.
Buffy went over to hug her friend, "Hi, Will. Do you want coffee?"
"Nope, To-Go-Cup." She raised her left hand to reveal a cup of The Espresso Pump's finest brew. Dawn came bounding in behind Willow, and Giles briefly pondered the ability of teenage girls to 'bound' in any situation. Buffy used to "bound" around, too, but not anymore. Not for a long time.
"Where's Tara?" Giles was surprised at her absence; Tara had become a regular fixture at Willow's side and a regular fixture in their lives by proxy.
"She'll be by later, 7 AM was a little to early for her. We were up kind of late making calls."
Silence seemed to creep in unexpectedly, and Buffy finally set the pitcher down and started to make the coffee.
"So," Willow's tone revealed that she would be discussing the business of the day, and trying to get a plan formed up before the arrival of the others, "I got a hold of Joyce's lawyer last night, and set up a meeting for later this morning at eleven. I spoke with Joyce's business partner in the gallery and she said to call her if you need anything and that she'd take care of the gallery for now. I couldn't tell by names in the address book who was family, so I thought maybe your dad could help…"
"Did you call Dad yet, Buffy?" Dawn spoke slowly as if she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
"No, I couldn't do it last night," Dawn looked disappointed at Buffy's news, "I could barely talk last night, and I wanted you to be able to talk to him if you wanted."
Giles looked at them and cleared his throat, "I think, Buffy, that you and Dawn should call your father and tell him about your mother. Let him know that you're meeting Joyce's lawyer this morning and that you'll need help contacting family. If you need me to speak with him, I'll be in here."
"Okay, c'mon Dawn, let's go see if Dad is home."
"Okay."
As the two Summers girls walked out of the kitchen, Giles wondered what decision would be made regarding Dawn. He knew that she needed to be with Buffy, but had Joyce made those arrangements?
Upstairs in Joyce's room, Buffy and Dawn sat on the bed, with the phone in between them, staring at it.
"It's kind of weird to be sitting here." Dawn was looking around uncomfortably, sitting Indian-style and keeping her elbows tucked in.
"Weird doesn't even begin to describe it. Surreal, freaky, wrong, those are words that seem to describe this."
"Buffy, can I ask you something before we call, Dad?"
"Of course, Dawn, anything."
"And you'll be honest?"
"Yes, I'll be honest."
"Do you think Dad will try and take me away?"
"I don't know. Part of me thinks that he'll automatically want to come get both of us and take us away from all this." Buffy paused and looked a little sad, "I don't think he will, though. He might just come for you, but he won't come for me. And even if he did, I can't go and I can't let him take you."
"'Cause I'm 'The Key' and you have to protect me, right?" Dawn rolled her eyes, but Buffy could tell that it still hurt Dawn to know she wasn't "real." Buffy took Dawn's hand into her own.
"No, I can't let him take you because you're my sister. Dawn, I don't have any family left, if you go, I'm alone."
"You have Giles."
Buffy smiled and now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "That's different. That's not family."
"How is that different from family? He takes care of you and stuff." Dawn shrugged her shoulders. "He's your watcher."
"Him being my watcher doesn't mean that he'll automatically take care of me. He does that because he cares about me."
Dawn looked confused, "I don't get it."
"It's complicated, kind of like things with Dad, he's family because he acted like a dad when we were little, but just because he's our Dad doesn't make him take care of us now. It's like that with Slayers and Watchers, Watchers train Slayers, prepare them for fighting the undead and demons, but that doesn't mean that they care about the Slayer. Just look at the Council. They couldn't care less about me. I'm all that Giles cares about."
Dawn offered a tentative theory to Buffy, "So, Giles is a better Watcher than the rest of them."
"Kind of, it's more like he's surpassed being just a Watcher. He does more than train and take care of me. We're at the same level, almost. Only we compliment each other, he has the brains and I have the brawn. He's not above me and I'm not below him, we're a team."
"So, Giles being your watcher is besides the point, because you're friends, like you and Will."
"Exactly, but even more so."
"Can I ask you another question, Buffy?"
"Just one more, we really need to call Dad." Buffy really didn't want to stop talking to Dawn, this was nice, they didn't talk like very often, and she was feeling pretty good about how things were going. The thought of calling her dad and telling him about her mom was scary. She didn't know if she could do it without getting sick.
"Did Giles stay here last night?" Dawn's question interrupted Buffy's unpleasant thoughts, and caught her a bit off guard.
"Yes, why?" Buffy could handle this, nothing shocking about Giles staying there, so why did her face feel like it was on fire?
"Well, I got up at five this morning, and there wasn't anybody in my room or in the living room…"
Buffy couldn't keep her eyes from opening up like headlights. How was she going to play this off? "He slept on my floor. I was scared to be alone. He slept on my floor."
"Oh, okay." Dawn looked away; she seemed embarrassed for Buffy. "We should call Dad."
"Yeah…"
Buffy picked up the phone and sighed as she dialed the number. Dawn strained to hear the ringing, and they both froze as a voice said 'Hello' at the other end.
"Hi, Dad, it's Buffy and Dawn, Dawn's here, too…. Yeah, I know it has been a while; you're usually traveling when we call… Well, we have some bad news." Buffy's eyes were beginning to sting with tears, and Dawn already had tears rolling down her cheeks, "Dad, that's great, but… Dad, Mom died yesterday." Buffy choked on a sob, "She had an aneurysm and she's dead… complications from the tumor. There wasn't anything we could do. It was supposed to be instant, no pain… Yeah, Dawn's right here."
Buffy handed the phone over to Dawn, got up off the bed and walked out into the hall. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. When she opened them, Giles was standing at the head of the stairs.
"I came to check on you." He looked so pained, so desperate to come to her, but afraid to do anything.
"Oh, Giles…" Buffy walked over to him and sank into his arms, "What are we going to do?"
Before Giles could answer, Dawn came out of the bedroom with the phone in her hand, "Buffy? Dad wants to talk to you."
Buffy abruptly pulled away from Giles and took the phone from Dawn, wiping away her tears she spoke to her father. She spoke too quietly for Giles or Dawn to hear, but they both remained uncomfortably silent until the beep of the cordless phone told them the call was over.
Buffy was looking at floor and taking deep breaths. Dawn looked over at her and asked what both she and Giles were thinking.
"Is he coming? Is he going to be here?" Dawn could barely choke out the words, for fear of what the answer might be.
"He'll be here tomorrow," Buffy gave Dawn a hug, and smoothed her hair, "He's staying at a hotel. He'll be by around noon."
"Did he say anything about me?" Dawn asked the question with some reserve.
"He said we'd talk about it tomorrow. I told him we were going to see the lawyer today, he said we could talk about that too, but that he'd probably want to meet with her anyway." Buffy looked up and had a distant look in her eyes, which were glassy from her tears. "Giles, I'm scared."
Dawn looked back and forth between Giles and Buffy and, sobbing, asked, "What's going to happen to us?"
"What do you think she's doing?" Giles was nervous, he was whispering and he couldn't seem to let go of Buffy's hand.
"She's probably making some breakfast. We should probably go help her." Buffy started down the steps, then stopped, and looked at the hand that she was holding, kissed it and let go.
Buffy was already in the kitchen before Giles had started down the stairs.
Just as Giles was reaching the foot of the stairs, the doorbell rang. Through the glass, he could see a bobbing orange blob, and he felt relief that Willow was the first to arrive. Dawn came running around the corner from the dining room, and almost ran Giles down.
"Giles!" Dawn smiled sadly at him, but managed to squeeze out a giggle, "I didn't know you were down yet."
An embarrassed smile grew upon his face, "Yes, well, I couldn't sleep the day away, we've got a lot to do." He couldn't look at her, he was sure that she would know what he had done.
"Are you getting it?" Dawn made a small gesture toward the door with her hands.
"Wha..?"
"The door?" Dawn pointed in the direction of the bobbing orange blob.
"You can get it, I'm going to get some tea."
Giles walked towards the kitchen and heard Dawn mumble something under her breath about the English and tea.
Buffy was standing in front of the open refrigerator door. She pulled out a pitcher of orange juice and turned around. She smiled at him.
"Good morning, Giles, OJ?"
"I prefer something a little stronger." At Buffy's somewhat disgusted look, Rupert realized she thought he was referring to something alcoholic. "Do you have any tea?"
Buffy held the pitcher in both hands, looking around the kitchen, "Mom doesn't, didn't have, had," Buffy took a deep breath as she corrected herself," anything but herbal tea. Is that okay?"
"I need some caffeine this morning, do you have coffee?"
Buffy's face lost a little bit of its glow, as her eyes focused behind Giles, "Coffee, yeah."
Giles looked over his shoulder and smiled weakly at Willow as she entered the room.
Buffy went over to hug her friend, "Hi, Will. Do you want coffee?"
"Nope, To-Go-Cup." She raised her left hand to reveal a cup of The Espresso Pump's finest brew. Dawn came bounding in behind Willow, and Giles briefly pondered the ability of teenage girls to 'bound' in any situation. Buffy used to "bound" around, too, but not anymore. Not for a long time.
"Where's Tara?" Giles was surprised at her absence; Tara had become a regular fixture at Willow's side and a regular fixture in their lives by proxy.
"She'll be by later, 7 AM was a little to early for her. We were up kind of late making calls."
Silence seemed to creep in unexpectedly, and Buffy finally set the pitcher down and started to make the coffee.
"So," Willow's tone revealed that she would be discussing the business of the day, and trying to get a plan formed up before the arrival of the others, "I got a hold of Joyce's lawyer last night, and set up a meeting for later this morning at eleven. I spoke with Joyce's business partner in the gallery and she said to call her if you need anything and that she'd take care of the gallery for now. I couldn't tell by names in the address book who was family, so I thought maybe your dad could help…"
"Did you call Dad yet, Buffy?" Dawn spoke slowly as if she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
"No, I couldn't do it last night," Dawn looked disappointed at Buffy's news, "I could barely talk last night, and I wanted you to be able to talk to him if you wanted."
Giles looked at them and cleared his throat, "I think, Buffy, that you and Dawn should call your father and tell him about your mother. Let him know that you're meeting Joyce's lawyer this morning and that you'll need help contacting family. If you need me to speak with him, I'll be in here."
"Okay, c'mon Dawn, let's go see if Dad is home."
"Okay."
As the two Summers girls walked out of the kitchen, Giles wondered what decision would be made regarding Dawn. He knew that she needed to be with Buffy, but had Joyce made those arrangements?
Upstairs in Joyce's room, Buffy and Dawn sat on the bed, with the phone in between them, staring at it.
"It's kind of weird to be sitting here." Dawn was looking around uncomfortably, sitting Indian-style and keeping her elbows tucked in.
"Weird doesn't even begin to describe it. Surreal, freaky, wrong, those are words that seem to describe this."
"Buffy, can I ask you something before we call, Dad?"
"Of course, Dawn, anything."
"And you'll be honest?"
"Yes, I'll be honest."
"Do you think Dad will try and take me away?"
"I don't know. Part of me thinks that he'll automatically want to come get both of us and take us away from all this." Buffy paused and looked a little sad, "I don't think he will, though. He might just come for you, but he won't come for me. And even if he did, I can't go and I can't let him take you."
"'Cause I'm 'The Key' and you have to protect me, right?" Dawn rolled her eyes, but Buffy could tell that it still hurt Dawn to know she wasn't "real." Buffy took Dawn's hand into her own.
"No, I can't let him take you because you're my sister. Dawn, I don't have any family left, if you go, I'm alone."
"You have Giles."
Buffy smiled and now it was her turn to roll her eyes. "That's different. That's not family."
"How is that different from family? He takes care of you and stuff." Dawn shrugged her shoulders. "He's your watcher."
"Him being my watcher doesn't mean that he'll automatically take care of me. He does that because he cares about me."
Dawn looked confused, "I don't get it."
"It's complicated, kind of like things with Dad, he's family because he acted like a dad when we were little, but just because he's our Dad doesn't make him take care of us now. It's like that with Slayers and Watchers, Watchers train Slayers, prepare them for fighting the undead and demons, but that doesn't mean that they care about the Slayer. Just look at the Council. They couldn't care less about me. I'm all that Giles cares about."
Dawn offered a tentative theory to Buffy, "So, Giles is a better Watcher than the rest of them."
"Kind of, it's more like he's surpassed being just a Watcher. He does more than train and take care of me. We're at the same level, almost. Only we compliment each other, he has the brains and I have the brawn. He's not above me and I'm not below him, we're a team."
"So, Giles being your watcher is besides the point, because you're friends, like you and Will."
"Exactly, but even more so."
"Can I ask you another question, Buffy?"
"Just one more, we really need to call Dad." Buffy really didn't want to stop talking to Dawn, this was nice, they didn't talk like very often, and she was feeling pretty good about how things were going. The thought of calling her dad and telling him about her mom was scary. She didn't know if she could do it without getting sick.
"Did Giles stay here last night?" Dawn's question interrupted Buffy's unpleasant thoughts, and caught her a bit off guard.
"Yes, why?" Buffy could handle this, nothing shocking about Giles staying there, so why did her face feel like it was on fire?
"Well, I got up at five this morning, and there wasn't anybody in my room or in the living room…"
Buffy couldn't keep her eyes from opening up like headlights. How was she going to play this off? "He slept on my floor. I was scared to be alone. He slept on my floor."
"Oh, okay." Dawn looked away; she seemed embarrassed for Buffy. "We should call Dad."
"Yeah…"
Buffy picked up the phone and sighed as she dialed the number. Dawn strained to hear the ringing, and they both froze as a voice said 'Hello' at the other end.
"Hi, Dad, it's Buffy and Dawn, Dawn's here, too…. Yeah, I know it has been a while; you're usually traveling when we call… Well, we have some bad news." Buffy's eyes were beginning to sting with tears, and Dawn already had tears rolling down her cheeks, "Dad, that's great, but… Dad, Mom died yesterday." Buffy choked on a sob, "She had an aneurysm and she's dead… complications from the tumor. There wasn't anything we could do. It was supposed to be instant, no pain… Yeah, Dawn's right here."
Buffy handed the phone over to Dawn, got up off the bed and walked out into the hall. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. When she opened them, Giles was standing at the head of the stairs.
"I came to check on you." He looked so pained, so desperate to come to her, but afraid to do anything.
"Oh, Giles…" Buffy walked over to him and sank into his arms, "What are we going to do?"
Before Giles could answer, Dawn came out of the bedroom with the phone in her hand, "Buffy? Dad wants to talk to you."
Buffy abruptly pulled away from Giles and took the phone from Dawn, wiping away her tears she spoke to her father. She spoke too quietly for Giles or Dawn to hear, but they both remained uncomfortably silent until the beep of the cordless phone told them the call was over.
Buffy was looking at floor and taking deep breaths. Dawn looked over at her and asked what both she and Giles were thinking.
"Is he coming? Is he going to be here?" Dawn could barely choke out the words, for fear of what the answer might be.
"He'll be here tomorrow," Buffy gave Dawn a hug, and smoothed her hair, "He's staying at a hotel. He'll be by around noon."
"Did he say anything about me?" Dawn asked the question with some reserve.
"He said we'd talk about it tomorrow. I told him we were going to see the lawyer today, he said we could talk about that too, but that he'd probably want to meet with her anyway." Buffy looked up and had a distant look in her eyes, which were glassy from her tears. "Giles, I'm scared."
Dawn looked back and forth between Giles and Buffy and, sobbing, asked, "What's going to happen to us?"