CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: BETH (II)
Tuesday: 10pm13th January 1998
California: Sunnydale
Tim Stanton knocked on the apartment door nervously. He wasn't sure what he would say exactly, but he needed to know if this girl was the real deal, or if this was some sort of an elaborate hoax.
He breathed in deeply as he heard the door open.
"Can I help you?"
Tim looked at the man who had answered the door.
"Are you Mr Giles?" he asked.
"No, I'm not," he replied.
"Does a Mr Giles live here?" Tim asked.
Ethan nodded and Tim breathed a sigh of relief.
"Could I speak with him?" he asked.
"What is this about?" Ethan asked curiously.
"Please, I have to speak with him. Its important."
Giles walked up behind Ethan and gently pushed the other man out of the doorway.
"I'm Rupert Giles. What can I do for you?" he asked politely.
"May I come in?" Tim asked.
Giles hesitated for a moment, but moved back, being sure not to give a verbal invitation. He breathed a sigh of relief when Tim walked in with no troubles.
"My name's Timothy Stanton," Tim said.
"What can I do for you Mr Stanton?" Giles asked.
"It's…well…about…about your niece," Tim said.
Giles looked at him curiously, feeling his heart begin to race.
"What about her?"
Tim caught the note of panic in his voice and rushed to reassure him.
"Oh, she's not in trouble or anything. She's…look, Joyce, my wife…well…I know this is going to sound crazy, but…my wife thinks that your niece may be her daughter. And I think that she may be right," Tim blurted out.
Ethan and Giles exchanged looks. They had been going through police records from the last ten years, and here the answer had basically been dropped onto their laps.
"What did you say her name was?" Ethan asked.
"Joyce," Tim replied.
"And her maiden name?"
"Summers. Joyce Anne Summers. Well, that was her last married name."
Ethan's face lit into a grin. "That's her," Ethan said. "J.A Summers."
Tim looked between the two men, shocked. "Wait…you're saying that Joyce was right? Beth really is Joyce's daughter?"
Giles removed his glasses and looked at the other man. "It looks to be that way. Until recently, we thought Mrs Summers to be deceased."
Tim looked at the man suspiciously. "Where the hell has she been all these years? Joyce searched the country for her, and she never found her."
"She was in England," Ethan replied, bitterness showing in his voice. "That's why she couldn't be found in the States."
Tim went to say more but was interrupted when someone burst through the door. He looked towards her shocked. It was a young blonde girl, no older than seventeen. She seemed to be bleeding rather badly from her arm.
Both Ethan and Giles jumped up, simultaneously calling her name.
"Buffy!" "Beth!"
Ethan raced towards her, helping her to a seat, Giles rushing to the bathroom to retrieve the first aid kit. He emerged and knelt in front of her, expertly fixing the cuts and wrapping the carefully.
"What did this?" Giles asked quickly.
"It's alright Giles," she whispered. "Nothing poisonous. Just hurts like hell."
"You've lost a lot of blood luv," Ethan said quietly.
"I'll be okay," she said.
"Maybe we should take her to a hospital," Ethan said to Giles.
"No!" Beth protested. "I'm fine. Both of you, stop worrying."
She finally noticed the other man standing in the room with them. Both Ethan and Giles seemed to remember Tim at the exact same moment and simultaneously cleared their throats. Beth giggled a little but stopped when Ethan glared at her.
"So, I see you guys have been making friends with the locals," Beth said, trying to clear the awkward silence.
"Yes, something like that," Giles said. Ethan sat beside Beth who immediately cuddled up beside him, her eyes closing tiredly.
Tim looked on, wondering who exactly these two men were and why his wife's daughter had been so badly injured like that. She was obviously comfortable with both of them, and he had to wonder where exactly the girl had been the entire time.
"I'm taking her to bed," Ethan said, picking Beth up gently.
Tim glared at him, but Ethan completely missed it. Giles didn't though. When Ethan was out of earshot, Giles just lifted his eyebrows at the other man.
"He doesn't mean it that way you know," Giles said. "That man's been a father to her for about five years now."
"I don't understand," Tim said, sitting down on the newly vacated couch. "Why was she taken to England? Why has she only just come back now? Why do the two of you call her different names? And what the hell happened to her arm?"
Giles sat down on the single chair and made himself comfortable, knowing that this would be a long night.
"Mr Stanton, what do you know about this town?" Giles asked.
"It's about two hours from LA."
Giles struggled to hold in a groan. The people of this town really were oblivious when it came to the nightlife of the area.
"Have you ever noticed anything…odd?" he asked.
"Odd? Like what?"
"Such as the death count? Such as too many suspicious wild dog attacks?" Giles suggested.
Tim thought for a moment and finally nodded. "Now that you mention it, yes. What does this have to do with Buffy?"
"Mr Stanton, I'm about to tell you something that will make you believe I should be committed to the nearest asylum, but I'm trusting you with this, because you've seen too much already," Giles said. "There are creatures that roam this earth, demons that wish to kill people."
Tim looked at Giles incredulously. "You really should be committed."
Giles rolled his eyes and leaned forward in his seat.
"I can prove it to you if you'd like me to," Giles said.
Ethan chose that moment to come down the stairs. "She's asleep. Poor girl. She's completely knackered."
"Is he serious about there being demons?" Tim blurted out.
Ethan looked between Tim and Giles. "Oh, so he told you about that then," Ethan commented casually. "So much for that secrecy oath you took."
"You're serious," Tim said.
Giles nodded.
"And Buffy fits into this where?" he asked.
"In every generation, there is a Chosen One. She alone can stand against the vampires, the demons and the Forces of Darkness. She is the Slayer," Giles recited. It was the easiest way to explain things.
"A Slayer?"
Ethan nodded sadly. "It sounds deranged, we know, but…if you could see that girl dance…you'd believe that she was the Slayer."
"Dance?" Tim repeated.
"He means, if you could see her fight," Giles clarified. "She's a wonderful fighter."
"But why her? Why Buffy? Why take her away from her family?" Tim asked angrily.
"No one knows who gets Chosen, or why they are Chosen. It's no ones fault that Beth happened to be Chosen. These girls are taken from their families in order to train them properly, to help them hone their skills," Giles explained. "Beth was taken when she was five."
"We searched for her for years, and you're telling me that some strange organisation had her the entire time?" Tim asked.
"Essentially, yes," Giles said.
"So, we could sue your asses off for kidnapping and terrorising innocent young girls," Tim said.
"I think you'll find it very hard to sue us Mr Stanton," Giles said. Tim was surprised to hear regret in the British man's voice. "The Council's methods are archaic, but they believe in the cause. You'd never win against them."
"The cause?" Tim asked.
"The good fight," Ethan said. "Good versus Evil. That's how Buffy explains it."
"And the two of you? Why do you call her Buffy?" he asked, looking at Ethan. He turned to Giles. "And why do you call her Beth?"
"I met her when she still went by Buffy. Before she started her training," Ethan admitted. "Rupert here only met her a little over a year ago."
Tim sat back in his seat, not entirely sure what else to say. He knew that his wife wanted her daughter back more than anything in the world. But, to have it come at this price, with this explanation seemed to be too much. It seemed too fantastical, too unbelievable. And yet, Tim was taking it at face value.
"And Buffy…or Beth? What does she think about all of this?" Tim asked.
"She helps people," Ethan said quietly. "She's proud of what she does."
"She told you that?" Tim asked.
Ethan nodded and once more got out the letter that were in his jacket pocket.
He handed Tim the latest letter. "About four paragraphs in, if you're after proof."
Tim began reading aloud:
"It's worth fighting for Ethan. I never really understood why the others did it when they were Called, but…I get it. Every person I save…it's one more life that someone gets to live. These people need my help and more than anything, I want to give it to them. There's these two kids here in Sunnydale who I've kinda become friends with. Janna was right. I needed more tangible reasons to fight. You and Faith will always be my top two reasons, but…these people that I barely know…they're worth saving."
"Who's Faith?" Tim asked.
Giles too looked a little curious at that.
"Her best friend," Ethan replied. "A girl she met over three years ago."
"She was another Potential, wasn't she?" Giles asked.
Ethan nodded. "Yes. They were close…extremely close. They still are."
"I had no idea," Giles said softly.
"She was afraid that you would make her give both of us up if you ever found out about the letters," Ethan said. "She was so used to Travers' punishments that she lost her faith in the Council. But she does trust you."
"Punishments?" Tim asked.
Ethan winced at that and looked apologetically at Giles.
"It's a uh…very strict training facility," Giles explained.
Tim's eyes narrowed. "How strict?"
"Travers made Hitler look like the bleeding Easter bunny," Ethan said angrily.
"You didn't approve of Buffy being there?" Tim asked Ethan.
Ethan shook his head. "Never. But, she explained it to me one day. She always had the simplest explanations for things. Still does. She told me that it was fate. Just fate. There was nothing anyone could have done differently. We play a role in bringing people to where they're meant to be. Buffy is meant to be the Slayer. And nothing and no one can change that, no matter how much they want to."
Tim tried to take in what was being said, but he knew that where his wife was concerned, she would just want Buffy to be at home.
"So…what happens now?" Tim asked.
"We figure out a way to reunite them, I suppose," Giles suggested.
"She works at the gallery that Joyce runs," Tim said. "That's what made Joyce so suspicious. The name and her date of birth made her a bit curious."
"This is a lot to try and take in," Giles said, ever the practical one. "Perhaps Joyce should be told before we tell Beth. If, for some reason, Joyce decided that she didn't particularly want a nearly seventeen-year-old girl in her life, Beth would be crushed."
"Trust me when I say that Joyce wants Buffy back," Tim said. "She's been obsessed about it for years."
Giles nodded and looked towards the top of the staircase where Beth's room was.
"Still. Joyce should have a say in how we deal with this. She is Beth's only blood relative in all of this," Giles said. "And if Joyce already suspects the truth about this situation, then it should be confirmed for her."
"Well, she's asleep at the moment," Tim said. "As much as she would want to know this very second, I'm reluctant to do this right now."
"Buffy's too tired at the moment anyway mate," Ethan said. "Best to leave it 'til morning, I'd say."