Stepfather

Chapter 2: Revelations Part 1

Takes place one day after the events of "Revelations."

~~~~~*~~~~~

~Sunnydale High School Library~

"Right. Yes. I'm looking forward to it, too. Tonight. Eight o'clock. I'll be there. I can't wait. Goodbye."

Rupert Giles hung up the phone in his office. He grinned a little. Tonight was to be his and Joyce's third "official" date. They were going to a quaint little bistro downtown. He was going to meet her there. Giles would have preferred to pick the lady up at her home; after the informality of their original romantic encounter, he had done everything by the book. But Buffy still didn't know about their new relationship, so picking Joyce up for their date at her house might have raised some embarrassing questions.

"What's going on tonight at eight?" said a muffled and slightly slurred voice from behind Giles. It startled him. He jumped from his chair and quickly turned around. There stood Buffy in the doorway of his office. She casually leaned against the door jamb. In her mouth there was a cherry Tootsie Roll pop.

She straightened, leveled her eyes at him, removed the impeding candy and asked her question again. "What's happening tonight at eight?"

Giles busied himself cleaning his glasses. It was his favorite way of stalling for time. "Yes... Well... um, I have a meeting tonight. I'm meeting... someone."

Buffy's eyebrows raised a little. "Yes, Giles. I gathered that when you said you had a meeting. I assumed that it wasn't with an imaginary person," she said slowly, as if talking to a child.

"No, no. Of course not," Giles stuttered.

"Right. So, what's going on? Do I have to come?"

"No, certainly not. I'm just meeting with a book dealer. I heard that a previously unavailable text on demonology has just come into Sunnydale and I will be attempting to acquire it."

"That's it? That's what you're so giddy about? Another book?" Buffy walked out of Giles's office and the librarian followed close behind. She walked up to their 'usual' table and sat on top of it. "Jeez, Giles," she whined. "You have to get out more. It's Friday night and your only plans involve a book that only you and like three other people on the Earth can read."

"Buffy, if you're through ridiculing my social life..."

"Yeah, Giles, I've got it. MYOB. I'm just gonna meet Xander and Will at the cafeteria for lunch." Buffy headed out towards the library's exit. Just before she got to the door, she stopped and turned around. "Um, Giles?" she said.

"Yes, Buffy?" the librarian responded as he picked up a book from the table and started flipping through it.

"The gang and I were going to Bronze it tonight. Do you mind if I skip patrol?"

"That's fine," Giles said without looking up from the book that now held his attention. Buffy narrowed her eyes as she looked at Giles one last time. Then she headed to the cafeteria to meet her friends.

~~~~~*~~~~~

"I'm telling you guys, something is going on with Giles," Buffy said as she sat at the table surrounded with Xander, Willow, Oz, Cordelia. They were eating (or not eating, as the case may be) their respective lunches.

"Buff, come on. I'm sure it's nothing," said Xander. "After all, it's Giles. What on earth could he be up to?"

"Raising icky demons that possess people," she replied.

"Nah," Xander said, shaking his head. "It's so been there, done that."

"Buffy," Willow said, "what makes you so sure that anything is going on?"

"There's just something about his mood. Plus, I told him I wanted to skip patrol tonight to party at the Bronze and he said it was fine. No grief, no lecture. He didn't even mention the words 'sacred duty.'"

"Wow."

"I know. For a minute I thought he had been body snatched."

Cordelia looked up from her salad and added, "I don't know why you people are so worried. Giles is spending his Friday night buying a book. So what? He's not exactly Mr. Life-of-the-Party. He probably spends every Friday in that library. Just because Giles chooses to be antisocial, why is it our problem?"

Buffy sighed. "It's not our problem, Cordy. It's not even a problem. I just don't think that I can go out tonight and kick it worry-free with this rattling around in my brain."

Willow looked at Buffy apprehensively. "So, what? Are you going to follow him or something?"

Buffy looked up excited. "That's a great idea, Willow!"

"No, no!" Willow said backpedaling. "Not my idea! Your idea. It was your idea. I just vocalized it."

Buffy smiled. "It was a great idea, Will."

Oz smiled and put his arm around his girlfriend. "Top notch," he agreed.

"I can do this by myself," Buffy continued, "but you guys are welcome to come if you'd like."

"Oh yeah. That sounds like fun," said Cordelia snidely. "Skulking around down by the docks or in some abandoned warehouse. Getting all dirty and gross just so we can watch the most boring retail transaction in history. I lo-"

"We'll be there," Xander interrupted. Then he looked around and realized that the new squad of Scoobies was missing a member. "Hey, Buffy. Do you think we should invite Faith?"

Buffy thought about that for a minute then replied, "No. It's not demon business, I don't think. So it's not a Slayer thing. It's just a we're-Giles'-friends-and-worried-about-him thing. Besides, after that whole thing with Mrs. Post, I think she just wants to lay low for a while."

Buffy thought a bit about how this was going to play, then said, "Giles said that he would be meeting whoever at eight. There is nowhere to go in Sunnydale that takes more than a half an hour to get to, so Giles would leave his house until 7:30. But he's the poster boy for punctuality, so we'd better meet outside at my house at 7:00. We'll go to Giles' from there. Giles will be driving... Cordelia, can we take your car?"

The brunette looked around and answered, "It will be a tight squeeze with the five of us."

"Oz's van has plenty of room," Willow said.

Buffy nodded. "Oz, can we take your van?"

"That's what it's here for," the werewolf replied, very laid back.

"Great," said Buffy. "We all know the plan then. My house, seven o'clock, wear dark colors."

~~~~*~~~~

~Summers Residence~

Joyce was putting the finishing touches on her make-up when she looked up from the vanity mirror to find her daughter watching her.

"Mom, what are you doing?"

Joyce smiled. "What do you mean, Buffy?"

"You look... nice?" Buffy said, confusion evident in her voice. And Joyce did look nice, Buffy noticed. Her mom was wearing a new outfit, a robin's egg blue dress; the lines were clean and it was very tailored. The empire waist flattered Joyce's figure. Her mother was also wearing her nicest gold jewelry. All of this, with the make-up and hair, could only mean one thing.

"Mom? Are you going on a date?" Buffy asked, her voice filled with a strange combination of wonder and horror.

Joyce's smile got even bigger. "Why yes, I am."

Buffy was aghast. "Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

"I didn't think you needed to know."

"Mom! This is something I needed to know! This affects me, too." Buffy thought for a minute and then said, "It's not another robot, is it?"

"No!" Joyce cried. "Believe me, Buffy. This one is a flesh and blood man." As Joyce said this, she wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Bad mental image!" Buffy cried. She sat down on the edge of Joyce's bed. "So when do I get to meet him?"

"I see you're going slaying tonight," said Joyce, attempting to change the subject.

Buffy looked down at her own outfit of blue jeans, a black tank top, and black tennis shoes. "Um, yeah. Slaying. And Bronze."

"Well, be careful," Joyce said as she left the bedroom. She hurried downstairs and grabbed her purse as she headed out the front door.

"Wait! Mom! Aren't you even going to tell me who your date is?" Buffy called out as she hurried to catch up with her mother.

Joyce waved as she got into her car. "Remember," she called, "be home by one." Then Joyce backed her car out of the driveway and took off down Revello Drive.

Well, that was weird, thought Buffy. Then she looked at her watch. Shoot! Six-fifty. The gang will be here any minute."

~~~~*~~~~

~Outside of Giles's Apartment~

~Later that night~

The Scooby gang waited in Oz's van with Oz driving, Buffy sitting shotgun, and everyone else piled in the back. Finally, they knew their wait was over when they saw Giles exit his apartment. He was carrying a wool overcoat on his arm, a small canvas bag and... a bouquet of flowers?

"The hell...?" Buffy said, very puzzled.

Xander leaned over Buffy shoulder for a better look and asked, "What do you think is in that bag, Buff?"

"Um," Buffy replied, a little distracted, "that's one of his weapons bags. Probably a few stakes, a cross, holy water, and maybe a knife. The thing I don't get is the flowers."

Willow squirmed on the edge of her seat. "Maybe he's going to takes those to Miss Calendar's grave," she said. "He, um, he still visits her sometimes, and he would need to be armed in a cemetery at night."

Buffy shook her head. "No. Something doesn't feel right. Giles wouldn't go to a cemetery at night, just to remember Miss Calendar. It's too dangerous. There is no reason he couldn't go during the day. No. He wouldn't go there now unless he was spoiling for a fight." Buffy thought for a minute and then comprehension dawned on her face, quickly followed by alarm. "Oh my gosh. I think I know where Giles is going. I think he's going after Angel!"

Willow looked doubtful. "Are you sure, Buffy? I mean, yeah, he was angry that you didn't tell him about Angel coming back, but do you think he'd just go over there and get like all vigilante justice?"

"He did it before," Buffy said a little petulantly. "Don't you see guys?" she said, waving her arms around. "This explains everything. Why he was lying to me, the weapons-"

"Yes," interrupted Xander. "And he has the flowers because he thinks Angel's place needs a little sprucing up? That doesn't make any sense."

"I don't- Look! He's getting in his car. We'll just follow him to wherever he's going and then we'll find out who's right."

"I don't know," said Willow. "I don't feel right about spying on Giles like this." The rest of the gang nodded in agreement.

Buffy shook her head. "No. Giles might be planning to kill Angel. Stopping him is our first priority. After that, we can discuss the dos and don'ts of spying on our friends. After all, Xander didn't have any problems with spying on me."

Xander pointed a finger at Buffy as he defended himself. "It was a good thing I followed you. How long would it have been, Buffy? How long before you told us Angel was back?"

"You'll never know, Xander. You didn't give me the chance to tell you." Unshed tears glistened in Buffy's eyes. "You just found out, then you ran and told everybody!"

"Hey!" shouted Willow. "You two need to calm down. If you guys want, when we're finished, you two can scream and yell and beat each other senseless. I know I'm tired of trying to referee you guys, and I'm pretty sure Oz is, too. We are here because of Giles, and in case you haven't noticed, he's left! Now you two are going to be quiet and play nice, Oz is going to start the van, and we are going to catch up with Giles. When we see where he's going, then we can decide what do next."

All of the passengers in the van looked at Willow with stunned expressions. "What?" she said. "I can be authoritative, too. I'm just full of unexpressed feelings."

Oz started up the van, and they drove off down the road in silence.

~~~~~*~~~~~

When the gang finally found Giles's cark, they were, to say the least, surprised. "Why are we downtown?" said Cordelia, voicing everyone's unspoken question.

"I... don't know," Buffy said, the confusion evident in her voice. This was not a place Giles usually met contacts. The small tree-lined street was full of stores that sold overpriced curios and coffee shops that boasted freshly baked biscotti, not abandoned warehouses and dark back alleys. Giles' car was parked in front of a small, expensive-looking restaurant.

Willow was the first to voice an opinion. "Whatever Giles is doing here, it isn't any of our business. We should just go home."

The rest of the gang's curiosity had been piqued, however. "Come on Will," said Xander. "We've come all this way. We might as well take a look."

The gang got out of the van quietly. The walked up to the restaurant's large picture window. The saw Giles sitting at a small, candlelit table.

"Great," said Cordelia. "We've gone to all this trouble just to watch Giles eat dinner."

Buffy held up a hand to silence Cordy. "Wait."

A minute passed, then a tall woman exited the ladies' room and sat down across from Giles. The woman was wearing robin's egg blue.

"Giles is on a date?" Cordelia said, looking surprised. "Giles knows a woman?"

Suddenly, the woman Giles was with turned to face the approaching waiter, and for the first time the Scoobies could see her face. In unison, five pairs of eyes became larger. "Buffy, is that..." started Xander.

"It's... my mom?!" said Buffy disbelievingly.

For once, nobody had anything to say....

To be continued-