CHAPTER ELEVEN: PATRICK
Saturday: 6pm9th November 1996
Ireland: St Matthew's Church
The first month in Ireland had been hectic to say the least. She and Giles had settled into a small cottage on the outside of a small country town, posing as Uncle and niece so that the villagers wouldn't think that they were in a romantic relationship of any sort. When they had settled into the quiet cottage, Giles had taken her into the village to buy clothing, which she had been reluctant to do at first. He had explained that the money was the Council's and that she needed warmer clothing for the night air when she went patrolling. She had given in eventually and gone with him.
She'd never had new clothing before, only the drab clothes that the Council had provided all the Potentials with, consisting of sweats mostly, seeing as they were always training. They all wore black pants or skirts to class with a pale blue cotton blouse on top. In winter, they were given warmer clothes that were just as drab.
When Giles had taken her to the small stores to buy clothes, she had been astounded by the range of items. Giles had seen the look of wonder in her eyes and told her that she could have anything within reason, as long as it would be suitable for slaying.
She had bought jeans and slacks and t-shirts and jumpers as well as a warm jacket. Giles noticed the way she had been eyeing off a gorgeous black leather half-length coat, but had reluctantly walked away from it. When she had been busy trying on a pair of slacks, Giles had taken the coat in the size he knew was hers and paid for it, putting it quickly beneath some of Beth's other purchases. He smiled knowing that the gift would bring a smile to her face, something he liked seeing.
He had given it to her the night before her first patrol. It had been gift-wrapped, and she had taken it timidly from him, not used to being given gifts. Ethan had given her small trinkets all the time, but this beautifully wrapped gift was a mystery to her.
She unwrapped it carefully and pulled out the coat, her eyes going wide as she saw what it was. She looked up at him with a smile on her face. For moments, she was struck speechless, until she finally found her tongue and thanked him profusely.
He had grinned shyly and told her that she was welcome. He had then passed her two stakes, a cross and a crossbow with an attachable strap and told her that they should get going.
That had been two weeks ago. Beth had, at first, begun making a tally of how many vampires she killed. After the third night, she lost count and had worked out that it didn't matter how many she killed, as long as she did it.
Giles had been surprised by how well the girl fought. He had seen a few sparring sessions with the other Potentials, but he had never really seen a Slayer fight like Beth fought. It was a combination of the martial arts that the Potentials were taught, as well as street fighting and all out brawling. When he had asked who had taught her, he noticed that a flash of pain went through her eyes, and she had shrunk back from him. "No one."
He had left it at that, not wanting to completely put her back into the shell she had been in the first days when she was around him.
Now, Beth was doing brilliantly, Giles thought. She was a bright girl, and she hadn't been injured so far on patrols, except for a few bruises. Nothing serious had happened. Beth knew that she was pushing her luck and that it would happen one day, she had just hoped it to be on a far away day.
She was fighting a group of vampires that had been snacking in the centre of town, Giles watching from a safe distance. He was protected himself with a stake and cross, and Beth knew that he was able to use them and use them well. She had seen him stake one vampire the previous week when said vampire had tried to sneak up on him while he had been watching his Slayer fight.
She was currently battling four vampires, all of whom had mocked her stature in a thick Irish brogue which she had had trouble understanding. She had just shrugged and had begun to fight with them. They had originally had six members to the gang, but they were quickly dwindling.
She staked another vamp and delivered a roundhouse kick to the head of one behind her, sending him crashing into another one. She took advantage of the third vamps distraction when his head turned to look at his two fallen companions, and thrust her stake into his heart. Two left.
She grabbed the vamp that she had kicked by his collar and gave him a swift left hook followed by an uppercut to his jaw. He retaliated and kicked her stomach, sending her stumbling backwards into the waiting arms of the second vampire. She turned quickly and staked the vamp behind her, leaving her with one. A surprise kick to her back sent her crashing to the ground. She shifted her weight to her hands and flipped herself so that she was standing once more.
She backhanded the one remaining vampire who caught her wrist and yanked her towards him. She struggled for a moment and finally head-butted him, sending them both away from each other. The vamp growled angrily.
"What are you growling for?" she asked, surprised to find a smile tugging on her face. "Your friends are all dead, and you're gonna join 'em soon enough. I'd have thought you'd be a bit happier."
The vamp lunged towards her, and she sidestepped him. In a flash, the vamp suddenly had the upper-hand. She didn't know how it had happened, but he had her in a head and arm lock. Giles began racing towards them, stake at the ready. In a move so quick that neither Beth nor Giles saw, the vamp had removed a dagger from his back pocket and had thrust it into Beth's back, beneath her jacket.
Beth gasped loudly and fell to her knees as the vamp turned tail and ran. Giles quickly picked up Beth's discarded crossbow and aimed at the feeling vamp, shooting towards him. He nearly yelled in triumph as the crossbow bolt hit its mark and the vamp turned to dust.
Giles knelt beside his Slayer, the dagger still buried in her back. He looked around frantically, seeing if there were any people passing by. There was no one around. His eyes stopped on a church building that still had a light inside. With haste, he picked Beth up in his arms, surprised at how light she was and carried her towards the building.
"You'll be alright," he whispered comfortingly.
She just bit her lip to keep from crying out, her back protesting at the constant jostling.
Giles kicked the door open and went inside, knowing that at least the vamps wouldn't come in here. He quickly sat her on a pew, looking around frantically for something to stop the bleeding.
He was startled when someone tapped his shoulder and handed him a first aid kit. Giles looked at the other man, startled. The other man just smiled and indicated towards Buffy who was beginning to go pale from blood loss.
"I'll find her some juice, shall I?" the man asked.
Giles just nodded and sat beside Beth, taking the jacket from her shoulders and staring at the growing red stain on her shirt. He winced in sympathy as he realised how serious the wound was.
The other man came back, holding a glass of orange juice. He handed it to Beth who took it gratefully, trying not to spill any. Her hands were shaking horribly, the left-over adrenaline combining with the mind-numbing fear to make her body have a mind of its own.
The man sat on her other side and touched her free hand gently.
"The Lord will protect you, child," he said trying to assure her. "You are one of his Chosen."
She looked up at him startled and finally noticed that he was a priest.
"How do you know what I am?" she asked, her voice shaky. She breathed in sharply as she felt Giles fingers touch near the wound.
"I can see it written over you," he replied. "You must learn to wear it with pride though. Pride and humility so you don't begin to think yourself better than others. That will only lead you to arrogance and self-assurance when your assurance lies with your Watcher."
Beth nodded, wanting him to keep talking. His quiet voice and accent were lulling to her and she wished to concentrate on anything besides the pain in her back.
"Father, is there a hospital nearby?" Giles asked.
The priest just smiled gently and shook his head. "You don't need a hospital to heal this girl. She is special."
Giles looked at the man frantically. "She needs help."
"Yes," he agreed. "She does."
The priest moved Giles' hands away from the wound and Giles could only watch in fear as the man touched the angry skin surrounding the blade still buried in her back. Giles watched in amazement as Beth relaxed under the Father's touch.
The priest closed his eyes and with great gentleness pulled the dagger from Beth's back. Giles went to protest, but he kept silent when he saw the priest's mouth moving in silent prayer. Giles could only begin his own praying, something he hadn't done since he was a boy.
To say that Giles was shocked when Buffy sat up looking completely healed was an understatement. He was tempted to throw his arms around the young girl in celebration, but he settled for a smile and a light touch to Beth's hand. She squeezed his hand gently in silent thanks for his concern.
Beth looked towards the man who had healed her with wonder in her eyes.
"Thank you," she whispered.
"Do not thank me," he replied humbly. He pointed heavenward. "Thank Him."
She looked up and said a silent prayer of thanks. She knew that something wonderful had just happened, and she wasn't about to take it for granted.
He smiled at her and went to stand up.
"Wait," she said. "Who are you?"
He smiled and gently patted the hand that had come up to stop him from leaving.
"I am Father Patrick. Or Father Pat to the children," he said.
"It's nice to meet you Father Pat," she said.
He smiled and let go of her hand. "And you, dear child." He looked towards Giles and gave him a small smile as well. "Take care of her, Rupert. You're young Beth has a heavy burden to carry. Make sure she doesn't carry it alone."
"You have my word," Giles replied.
Father Pat nodded and walked away, leaving Beth and Giles to sit in the church and wonder how they had happened upon a miracle.
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Sunday: 10am10th November 1996
Ireland: Giles' Cottage
Giles awoke to find Beth sitting at the kitchen counter sipping on a glass of water. He gave her a smile and went about making himself breakfast. He set a cup of tea in front of the young Slayer who smiled at him gratefully. In the years in England as a Potential, she had always enjoyed drinking tea, mainly because there was hardly anything else. Faith had never understood how she could drink the 'godawful stuff'.
"How's your back?" he asked.
She shrugged a little and took a sip of the tea, burning her tongue slightly.
"S'alright. Kinda itches," she admitted.
He moved to stand behind her and touched the bottom of her shirt. He was startled when the girl shot out of the chair and was on the other side of the room before he had a chance to realise what had happened. He looked at her in confusion, surprised to see her shaking a little.
"I'm sorry," he said quickly, wondering what he had done to upset her so much.
"It's okay," she said, her voice a little breathless. "My back's fine though. Don't worry about it."
"I'd really like to see it," he said, his brows furrowing together in consternation. "What happened last night was nothing short of a miracle."
Beth shifted her weight from foot-to-foot nervously. She walked back towards him, eyeing him warily. He'd given no indication that he couldn't be trusted, but neither had Jeremiah Miller. He stepped forward slowly, as one would when approaching a frightened tiger. Beth Summers may have looked meek and innocent, but Giles had seen this girl fight. He knew that if it came down to it, Beth could easily knock him to the ground any day.
She turned from him and lifted the corner of her shirt so that Giles could get a look at her back.
He knelt down so that he could see it better, his fingers gently probing the skin. There was only a tiny scar that looked as though it had been healing for years. He went to put the shirt down but another mark on her skin jumped out at him. He lifted the other half of her shirt and felt bile rise up in his throat as he saw the hundreds of scars running across her back.
"What happened to your back?" he asked quietly, almost fearing the answer.
She jumped away from him again, having forgotten about the scars. In the five weeks she had been living with Giles, he hadn't hit her even once, and she was slowly repressing the memories of Travers' beating her. The scars that had adorned her back since she was little had become natural to her, and she had forgotten that other people would react to them as Giles just had.
She faced him and looked down at him, seeing him still on his knees. She tried to keep her breathing even as she turned away from him and ran to her room, shutting the door behind her and sliding down to sit against it so it couldn't be opened.
Giles stood up and moved back to the kitchen, his hands shaking with anger. The rumours that he hadn't wanted to believe about Travers' treatment of Beth Summers had all but been confirmed by the sight of her back. He couldn't understand how someone could want to hit such a bright and lively young girl.
Giles closed his eyes and leant against the counter, wondering whether Beth didn't trust him because of what Travers had done to her, or because of something else. He had noticed that she wouldn't let him into her bedroom, and that she would sit with at least six inches between them if she could. She would back away if he reached out to touch her, though more frequently she was touching him. She didn't mind him touching her if she had made the first move though.
He could only wait until she approached him and made him understand exactly what she had gone through to make her so edgy when she was around him. Until then, he would just have to approach her with caution. He swore to himself that no matter what, no matter how much she ever antagonised him, he would never raise his fist to her in anger. She had already had enough to last her for three or four lifetimes from Travers. All he could do was offer her his support and his respect.
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Sunday: 1pm
10th November 1996
Ireland: St Matthew's Church
Beth had crept out of the cottage without Giles noticing and had gone into the village, desperately needing to get out of the small house. She couldn't understand what was wrong with her, but she knew that if anyone could help, it would be Father Pat. He had seen her for only ten minutes the night before and had told her things that no one else should have known.
She entered the church quietly, finding it mostly empty except for a few individuals kneeling in the pews, their heads bowed. She looked around, trying to find him when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned, almost expecting it to be Giles come to scold her for leaving without letting him know where she was going.
"Father Pat," she whispered as she turned to see the priest behind her.
"I wondered if I would be seeing you again, young Beth," he said with a smile.
She returned the smile half-heartedly and let him guide her to the pew that she had occupied the previous night when she had been bleeding half to death.
"You've come to ask about your relationship with your Watcher, yes?" he asked.
She nodded and sat down beside him.
"He's a good man," he told her.
"I know," she whispered.
"Yet you don't trust him. Not fully."
She shook her head.
Father Pat took her hand in his and looked into her eyes.
"You've been hurt by a man you trusted, yes? He tried to do something to you, something that you didn't wish to happen."
"Yes," she replied quietly.
"There is another man, someone you consider to be a father to you. You trust him implicitly," he said. "Yet you won't trust your Watcher?"
"I think I've lost my faith where the Council is concerned," she admitted.
"Tell me Beth, why do you trust this other man, the one you think of as a father?" he asked.
"I've known him for years. He's never hurt me," she answered.
"Is there another reason as well?" Father Pat said.
Beth looked at him in confusion. "I don't understand what you mean."
"I mean, dear child, that you believe your father figure won't hurt you because he loves another man. So you think he wouldn't wish to be with a woman in that same sense," he explained. "And, in your own way, you trust me because I am a man devoted to God and sworn to a life of abstinence."
Beth's eyes went wide. There was truth to Father Pat's statement. She had known for years that Ethan was in love with another man, and while it had thrown her at first, she had accepted that it was part of who he was, and as long as Ethan was happy about it, then so was she. And, some part of her subconscious had told her that Ethan wasn't going to expect anything of her because he didn't see women in that sense.
"How do you know all of this?" she asked quietly.
"You are quite easy to read, dear girl," he answered. "I'm gifted with understanding people, particularly the Chosen. You are not only Chosen, but you wear your heart on your sleeve."
"Is that bad?" she asked.
He laughed a little and squeezed the girls hand. "No, it's not bad at all. People are drawn to you, are they not?"
She shrugged. "I guess so. The others always seemed to like me. Well, the teachers didn't so much, but…the other girls seemed to."
He nodded and gave her a smile. "You're an open person and people like to see that. You have a world of strength within you, and I'm not just speaking about being the Chosen One. You, Beth Summers, have strength within yourself. And you need to confront your fears."
"How do I do that?" she asked nervously.
"You have to trust him. You need to see past the fact that he is part of the Council and recognise that above all things, he is a man with the exact same hopes and fears as yourself. You need to learn to trust him with everything. You and he are bonded in a way that no other normal person can understand. As a Watcher and Slayer, you have to be able to trust each other. Which means that you have to let him into your life. And you also have to earn his trust," he said. "Which means that you shouldn't be sneaking out without telling him where you're going."
She smiled sheepishly and nodded. She wiped tears from her eyes and stood up.
He slipped a small box into her hands and watched as she opened it. She gasped when she saw a beautiful silver Celtic cross.
"What's this for Father?"
"It belonged to another such as yourself," he explained. "A young girl named Laurette."
"Laurie?"
He nodded. "She told me about you, dear child. She worried that you would become a Slayer. She asked me to give this to the next Slayer that I met. She had hopes that it would be you that received her cross. It was a gift from her Watcher to her. So that it would help her remember that a Watcher is always there for her, guarding over her."
"Thank you Father Pat," she whispered.
"You're welcome. Don't hesitate to come here if you need help. This is what I'm here for. That's what you're here for as well. To help those who need to be helped."
She nodded and headed back towards the cottage, mentally preparing herself to finally accept and trust her Watcher in a way that she hadn't trusted anyone except Faith and Ethan. It would be hard, but she silently swore to herself that she would do it.
In answer to some questions that I've been getting in reviews and in emails:
Everyone seems to want to know who Beth/Buffy is going to end up with. This fic was written with the intention of being non-ship specific, BUT when I was writing it, it worked REALLY well if I wrote a few chapters that WERE kinda shippy. Before you panic and think, NOOOO, I HATE that 'ship…just keep reading.
This WILL get confusing, BUT…I'm hoping that it will work anyway.
This version here is non-shippy. It will continue to be because I don't want people to stop reading cos they don't like my pairing. And most ppl don't, cos I'm a B/Ger at heart.
I will be posting alternate chapters for the people who prefer shippy goodness. They will only be standalones, and they won't have any relevance to the fic in itself, it's just to show what could have happened… These won't occur until about chapter thirty or so, so…you're gonna hafta be pretty patient.
I can guarantee there will be: B/A, B/G and B/S. A few people have asked for B/X and I'm working on one now.
I won't write slash, sorry to disappoint. So, B/F won't play into it at all. Slight subtext but nothing full-on. I'm pretty open to any other ships if ppl wanna see em. I'm not big on writing for other characters in a main way (ie Wilow and Xander) They feature, but not as main characters…dunno why that is…just is…
Anyways, thank you soooo much for your reviews and emails! You're really helping me out here!
Toodles.
K.