CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: JOYCE (II)

Monday 3:30pm

12th January 1998

California: Sunnydale

Joyce Summers-Stanton sat in her office going over the paperwork from the shipping order she'd just been given.  She sighed and stood up, hoping for something else to pop out at her to save her from doing her current task.

She saw Beth's paperwork sitting atop the filing cabinet.  The shipment had come in before Joyce had had a chance to read over the information properly.  She sat down with Beth's papers in her hands.

NAME: Beth Giles.

BIRTH DATE: 20th January 1981

Joyce stopped and stared at the date.  The 20th January 1981.  That was the date of her daughter's birthday.  And the name.  She breathed in sharply and felt tears spring to her eyes.  Coincidence, she thought to herself.  It had to be a coincidence.

The girl had grown up in England, she'd said as much to Joyce in a previous conversation.

Then why did Beth's eyes look so familiar?  They had the same spark that Buffy's had always held.  Lost in thought, she failed to hear the knock on the door of her office.

Willow looked at her employer and the woman who had been like a mother to her for the last few years worriedly.  She looked to be deep in thought, holding a few pieces of paper.  Willow entered cautiously and put a hand on Joyce's shoulder, startling her.

"Oh Willow," Joyce breathed.  "What are you doing here?  It's a school day."

Willow pointed to the clock on Joyce's desk.  "Schools out for the day," she explained.

Joyce nodded and finally calmed her breathing down.  Willow looked at the papers curiously.

"What are they?" she asked.

Joyce looked down at the papers, almost having forgotten what had had her so deep in thought. 

"Oh, I…I hired someone to work during the week," she explained.

"You mean Beth," Willow asked.

Joyce nodded.  "You've met her?"

"Yeah, we met on Sunday.  She came into the gallery.  And Xander seems to know her as well," Willow explained.

Joyce looked at her, with what Willow thought to be desperation in her eyes.

"What do you know about her?" she asked.

Willow could only think back to the previous night.  She had seen Beth slay a vampire of all things.  And Beth had sworn she and Xander to secrecy.  Willow thought back a little further to the conversation she and Beth had had on Sunday afternoon.

"She just moved here from England with her Uncle.  She said his name was Giles or something.  And that her parents died when she was little," Willow said.

Joyce sighed.  She wasn't sure whether it was in relief or frustration.

"So, she grew up in England."

"Oh, she said she was originally from the States.  But she couldn't really remember it that well.  She said she vaguely remembered living in LA," Willow said.

She didn't notice that Joyce went pale.

"She's really nice though," Willow continued on.  "She seemed to know a fair bit about some of the things in the museum."

Joyce nodded absently.  Her mind went blank except for one thought.  She had to talk to this girl, and she had to do it now.  She stood up and looked towards Willow.

"Are you doing anything this afternoon?" Joyce asked.

Willow shook her head.  "Nothing.  Why?"

"Can you stay here?  I need to do something," Joyce said.

"Yeah sure," Willow said, not entirely sure what was happening.  She'd never seen Joyce so shaken before, and she wasn't about to not stay when Joyce had asked.

"Thank you Willow.  You're a life saver.  You know how to lock up, right?"

Joyce didn't even wait for an answer.  She just grabbed one of the photo frames from her desk and fairly ran out of the office.  Willow could only stare at Joyce's fleeing form, wondering what ad just happened. 

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Joyce was walking towards the apartment that Beth had listed as her current address when a car horn blasted from behind her.  She jumped a little, startled by the loud sound.  She saw her husband's car pull up beside her.

"Hey Joycie.  Did you need a ride somewhere?" he asked.

She looked at him in confusion as though trying to remember why he was talking to her.  Tim looked back at his wife and immediately stopped the car, getting out.  He took hold of her hands and looked at her intently.

"Joyce.  What's wrong?"

She shoved a piece of paper into his hands.  He took it and read it, not understanding what the significance of it was.

"What is this?  Is this about your new employee?  Did something happen?" he asked.

Wordlessly she handed him the picture of herself with Hank and Buffy.  Tim's eyes went wide.

"You think this new girl is your daughter?" he asked.

Joyce nodded and took the picture back protectively.

"You're heading over there to ask her now?"

"That was the plan," she replied nervously.

Tim couldn't help but be hesitant about letting Joyce do something like that.  There were so many times that Joyce had heard leads about her missing daughter and they had always ended up being wrong.  He didn't want to see her hurt, especially when it had been so long ago.  He couldn't fault her for being hopeful about it, but if she was wrong it wouldn't be good.

"Joyce, why don't you let me do some research first?" he suggested.  "I'll try and find out some more about this girl before you go and ask her."

"But what if it's her?" she asked.

He took hold of her hands and gave them a gentle squeeze.  "Joyce, she's not going anywhere.  She works for you, so even if she leaves town, she has to tell you first.  I'll find out, okay?"

Joyce nodded reluctantly and let two tears fall down her cheeks.  Tim reached out and wiped them away gently.

"Come on, love.  I'll drive you home," he said.

She just nodded and let herself be lead to the car, leaning against her husband as he drove them towards their house.

Tim didn't know whether to pray that this Beth Giles girl was Buffy or to hope against hope that she wasn't.  He sighed and just hoped that everything would turn out the way it was meant to.