CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: MR GORDO
Wednesday: 4pm
14th January 1998
California: Sunnydale
Beth and Dawn walked into the gallery, their arms linked, chatting happily about anything and nothing. Dawn had been shocked by Beth's lack of knowledge about teenage boy bands, and had happily rambled on about who was better, N*Sync or Backstreet Boys. Beth had taken it all in, and could only wonder how people could find entertainment in bands where the people were chosen by their looks and their dancing abilities rather than their singing talents
Joyce looked up when she heard the familiar sounds of Dawn's voice coming through the gallery.
"Hey girls," she greeted. "Did you get your work finished?"
Dawn grinned happily. "Yep. All done. Mr McAllister can't yell at me now."
Joyce smiled and turned towards Beth.
"She wasn't any trouble, was she?" she asked.
"Trouble? The Dawnster? I think you've got her mixed up with someone else," Beth teased.
Dawn giggled and looked almost shocked when her mom did the same. Dawn had never seen her mom looking so…peaceful before. There had always been an air of sadness around her mom that Dawn had never understood.
Tim and Joyce hadn't ever explained to Dawn about Joyce's first daughter. They had agreed that if the always spoke about Buffy in front of Dawn, then she would grow up feeling inadequate and jealous of her older half-sister.
"Seriously," Beth continued, "she was fine. We got her work done, we had lunch and we went for ice cream afterwards."
"And I met Faith," Dawn added.
"Who's Faith?" Joyce asked with confusion.
"My best friend," Beth explained. "She's visiting Sunnydale for a while, just to see what it is that I've got myself into."
"She's from England as well?" Joyce asked.
She was curious as to what sort of a life Beth had had in England, and couldn't help but be thankful that her daughter sounded as though she had had friends while she was there. She still couldn't help but wonder why someone had taken her to England in the first place, and it was one of the many questions she would ask if Beth turned out to be her eldest daughter.
"She moved there when she was fourteen," Beth explained. "She was only there for about four years."
"Oh, so she's older than you," Joyce commented absently.
"A year and eighteen days older," Beth answered. She and Faith had calculated the difference when they had first become friends.
Dawn looked towards her mom and smiled when an idea popped into her head.
"Mom, could Buf – Beth come over for dinner tonight?" she asked.
"Well, that's up to Beth, honey," she replied. She looked towards Beth who was looking thoughtful. "Would you like to join us? You're more than welcome. You'd be able to meet Tim."
Beth flushed a little as she remembered that Joyce had told Tim that Beth had thought he was a spunk.
"And completely embarrass myself in the process," Beth said with a smile.
"Oh come on," Dawn pleaded. "You should come!"
Beth hesitated but eventually agreed. "I'll have to ask my uncle. He's kinda strict for the first few weeks when we're in a new place."
"You've moved around a lot?" Joyce asked.
Beth nodded.
"We went from London to somewhere in Ireland that I could never pronounce the name of. Uh, we went from there to St Petersburg in Russia, and then to Romania. Then we came here," Beth explained.
Dawn looked incredibly impressed. She'd never met someone who had travelled around so much. She'd grown up in Sunnydale, and the farthest she'd been was to LA.
"It sounds like an exciting life," Joyce commented. She was thrilled that her daughter hadn't missed out on the pleasures of life. Hearing that she was well travelled and had obviously grown up in a place that taught her to be kind was a nice feeling. She had always worried about what the people who had taken her daughter were doing to her. At least now, she knew that Beth had been well treated.
"It is a bit. It was kinda hard though," Beth admitted. "For about ten months I was in countries where people couldn't speak English. I tried picking up the languages, but by the time I'd got the hang of one, we'd moved again."
"But you're staying here right?" Dawn asked. "You are staying in Sunnydale?"
"For a while. I'm not too sure how long I'll be here. It's kinda up to my uncle's employers."
Dawn frowned but then brightened. Beth had slowly become used to Dawn's rapid-fire way of changing emotions as well as topics.
"So…go call you're uncle," she said, pointing towards the phone.
"Actually, I should go and check in with him first. He'll probably say yes if I'm lucky," Beth said. She looked towards Joyce. "How about you put me down as a 'yes' for coming to dinner, and if I call you it will only be to cancel?"
Joyce nodded. "Yes, of course. Dinner's at seven o'clock," she said.
Beth nodded and looked at Dawn.
"I'll see you tonight with any luck, alright?" she said.
"You better!" Dawn said.
With a quick hug to Dawn, and a wave at Joyce, Beth walked out of the gallery. Dawn smiled at a memory of a joke that Beth had told her earlier and walked to her mom, hugging her.
"You two seem to be getting along pretty well," Joyce commented, stroking Dawn's hair.
"I like her," Dawn replied easily. "She doesn't patronise me like Xander and Willow sometimes do."
Joyce had noticed that about Beth as well. She looked at people as though they were equals. She had always thought her daughter would end up with a loving and giving heart. Now she knew that she had been right.
As Joyce locked up the gallery, she could only hope that her husband wouldn't be angry that she had invited the girl she believed to be her daughter over for dinner. Joyce shook the thought from her head and quickly drove home.
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Beth stopped in at Faith's motel on the way home, knocking and entering when she heard Faith's shout of "it's open."
"Hey Faith," Beth greeted.
Faith rolled over on her bed to smile at the newcomer.
"Hey B. What brings you to this part of the neighbourhood?" she asked.
"Pretty much you do," Beth replied. "I owe you an explanation for the other night."
Faith smiled and sat up on the bed, patting the space beside her. Beth took her shoes off and sat cross legged in front of Faith.
"You never need to explain stuff if you don't want to," Faith said.
"I want to share this with you though," Beth replied. "You're one of the most important people in my life and…you deserve to know this."
"Alright," Faith said. "Hit me with whatever you got."
"My mom's still alive," Beth said.
Faith was floored. She hadn't been expecting that. The only other time she had seen Beth cry was after Jeremiah Miller's attack when Beth had been fifteen. She had assumed that Beth had been crying over something horrible that had happened.
"Wow. Geez B…that's…that's amazing," Faith said.
Beth nodded. "I know. Ethan sprung that one on me on Tuesday night. They don't know who she is exactly, but they're trying to find out. I jus…I didn't wanna believe it at first, I mean…my mom's alive. For twelve years I've thought she was dead and now suddenly she's not. It's…it's a lot to take in y'know."
"So…now what?" Faith asked. "Are you gonna try and find her or what?"
"Ethan's trying to track her down. But just…knowing she's alive, it's…I've never felt like this before. I've never really been hopeful about anything," Beth said.
Faith really didn't know what else to say. She was a little envious of Beth, she knew that much. And, at the same time, she pitied her best friend as well. Faith had the better end of the deal, she was out from under the Council's thumb, and she was free to live her life however she wanted to. Beth didn't have that.
"I'm really happy for you B," Faith said.
Faith reached over to her bedside table and plucked the pink pig off the nightstand. She handed it back to Beth who looked at it with a smile.
"I gave him to you," Beth said.
Faith just shook her head and pushed the pig back towards Beth when she tried to give it to Faith.
"I don't need him anymore," Faith said. "You said I could have him to remember you by and…I don't need to remember you when I'm gonna be going wherever you're going."
Beth grinned and hugged the pig to her chest.
"I can't argue with you about you following me, can I?" Beth said, almost thankful that her best friend would gladly go to the end's of the earth and back to keep her safe.
"Nope. You're got your very own groupie, B, so suck it up. I ain't go nowhere without you."
"Good," Beth said with a grin.
Faith smiled shyly and wondered whether the butterflies that were attacking her stomach were a normal thing to happen.
Beth smiled and stood up. "Anyway, I really can't stay. Giles and Ethan are expecting me home soon, and I gotta beg to go have dinner with Dawn and her parentals."
"What's up with you and her anyway?" Faith asked curiously.
Beth shrugged. "I dunno. I just like the kid. She…she kinda reminds me of Chloe."
"Really?" Faith asked. "She kinda reminded me of you."
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"Hey, do you mind if I go have dinner with the Stanton's?" Beth asked as she opened the door to Giles' apartment. She hadn't even greeted her two father-type figures before she asked, and she certainly hadn't realised that there was another figure in the room with them.
Ethan, Giles and the man that Beth hadn't really noticed the night before were seated around the living room with serious looks on their face. Beth shrunk back, wondering what was happening. It looked fairly serious, and she could only hope that the third man wasn't a member of Council.
"Beth. You're back," Giles stated.
She gave him a smile and shot a questioning look at their visitor.
"Oh, uh…this is Timothy," Giles said. "Tim, this is Beth."
Tim gave her a genuine smile which she returned hesitantly. Something clicked inside of her as she recognised the man in front of her.
"You're Joyce's husband," she said.
Tim looked up, shocked. "How did you know that?"
"I saw your picture on her desk," Beth replied.
Tim nodded and remembered his wife's comment about her newest employee thinking that he was good-looking.
"Ah, that's right. She said you thought I was attractive," Tim said with a grin.
Beth went red and moved to join them in the living room.
"You were checking him out?" Ethan asked incredulously. "What, you don't thing Ripp and I are attractive, so you go looking elsewhere?"
Beth laughed and shook her head, giving Ethan a small hug before sitting beside him. "You know you're a cutie Ethan."
He grinned and put an arm around the girl, kissing the top of her head. "Much better."
Beth didn't know what to think when Giles shot her a hurt look. "What about me?"
Her eyes widened in shock, and Giles just grinned at her.
"Well, uh…I mean…of course I think that you're, uh…well, you know…" Beth tried to stutter out a reply, but Ethan gently put a finger to her lips.
"He's teasing you luv," he assured her.
Beth glared at her Watcher, hating that she had gone bright red. She just fiddled with the stuffed pink pig that was still in her hands. Ethan smiled when he recognised the toy that he had saved so many years ago.
"So, what brings you to the neighbourhood, Mr Stanton?" Beth asked.
"It's just Tim, please," he said kindly. "And did you mention something about having dinner with us?"
"Oh uh…yeah. Joyce and Dawnie invited me," Beth explained.
"I've never seen Dawn take to someone like she took to you," Tim said. "It's rather amazing."
"She's a good kid," Beth replied.
Tim nodded. He wondered whether the girl had any suspicions about truly being Dawn's sister. It was strange to think of this girl as his step-daughter, but he could tell that, given half a chance, he would like the blonde girl immensely.
"Well, I need to get moving anyway," Tim said, standing up. "If you'd like a ride, I'd be more than happy to give you one."
Beth nodded and then remembered that she still needed her Watcher's approval first.
"Can I?" she asked hopefully. "I'll be back by nine or ten or something, so I can still…help you with your work."
"What?" Giles asked, not understanding what she was implying. "Oh. Yes, that work. Of course. Yes, that sounds alright."
"Cool. I'll just go change my outfit if you don't mind waiting Tim," Beth said.
Tim just nodded and Beth gave him a grateful smile, bounding up the stairs quickly.
"She's got a lot of energy," Tim commented.
"Indeed," Giles replied. "Are you planning to tell Joyce this evening?"
"I think I might have to," Tim replied. "The not knowing is killing her. And Dawnie adores her as well. I'm just…I don't know how Buffy – Beth will react to this."
Ethan just held onto the pig that Beth had left on the couch beside him.
"She wants her family back," Ethan said quietly. "For years, this little critter was all she had left. She didn't even have her memories of them. Just this fellow."
Tim held his hand out and Ethan gave the pig to Tim.
"Do you mind if I take this with me? In case Joyce needs anymore proof," he explained.
Ethan nodded and Tim quickly hid the pig away in his large briefcase, squashing the toy a little as Beth came back down the stairs in a fresh outfit.
"Ready to go?" Tim asked.
She grinned and quickly kissed Ethan's cheek, waved to Giles and was out the door with Tim in the lead.