Stepfather

Chapter 7: Gingerbread Part 3

"Buffy... Buffy. You have to wake up."

"Mmmrumphffhh."

"No. You can't go back to sleep. You have to help me wake up Cordelia and the guys."

Buffy Summers opened one very bloodshot eye and glared blearily at Willow. "What are you doing in my bedroom?"

Willow sighed deeply. She knew Buffy had never been a morning person, but this was extreme. "Buffy. You're in my bedroom. Remember last night. City hall. Bon fire. The angry mob screaming, 'kill the witches!'"

Suddenly, Buffy sat straight up in bed. "The anti-hell-sucking book!" she shouted.

Willow raised one eyebrow in curiosity. "Um, okay. I have no idea what you're talking about, but you're awake- sort of- and that's good. So, let's go."

"To City Hall?" Buffy glanced at the digital display on Willow's alarm clock. "At 6:30 in the morning?"

"No. I mean, yes, we need to get to city hall before the janitors get there and Giles loses what's left of his collection, but first we have wake up the guys and Cordy and have breakfast. It's the most important meal of the day."

Buffy paused and looked at Willow. "You're really strange in the morning." Willow shrugged. Buffy climbed out of the bed and started rummaging through Willow's closet. "Great plan Will, but first, I need a shower."

"Okay, but please make it a super quick one. We have to hurry." Willow, already dressed, headed out of her room and downstairs.

~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~

When Buffy entered Willow's kitchen, she was still putting her wet hair up in a scrunchee. Buffy looked at the gang assembled around the Rosenberg's kitchen table. "Hey." she said softly.

Xander was the first to look up. "Hey, Buff. Nice outfit."

"Yeah," said Buffy self-consciously. "It's Will's." She crossed her arms uncomfortably around her body.

"I recognize it," said Oz with a nod. Buffy was wearing a pair of yellow overalls with a yellow and orange striped shirt. Besides being unflattering, it was a size and a half too big.

"You don't like it?" Willow said with a small pout.

"No, Will. It's just... not really my color. I don't really wear a lot of yellow. Or, any of the colors you wear. It's fine though." Desperate to change the topic, Buffy asked, "What's for breakfast?"

"Lucky Charms... Donuts.... Pot Roast." replied Willow, Oz and Xander respectively, looking at their own plates. "What do you want?" asked Willow.

Buffy looked warily at Xander's pot roast and said, "None of the above. Just some coffee." Willow pointed mutely at the coffeemaker perking on the kitchen counter next to the fridge. Buffy grabbed a mug from the cabinet above her head and filled it. the milk and sugar were already out, so she went to sit between Willow and Xander at the table. "So, where's Cordy?"

Willow shook her head and said, "Sleeping Beauty? I tried to wake her up, but she sleeps like the dead. Worse than you."

"And she snores," offered Xander.

"I do not," said a voice from the doorway. Everyone watched a very disheveled Cordelia enter the kitchen and head straight for the coffeemaker. After looking in a couple of the cabinets, Cordelia found the right one and grabbed a mug. As she filled it, she said to Willow, "My dietician put me on a specific food regimen. My breakfast has to be low-fat, low-glucose, and lactose-free."

"Great," said Buffy. She grabbed an apple out of a bowl in the middle of the table and tossed it at the beauty queen. "Here. Now, is everyone ready to go?"

"Go? I'm not going anywhere like this."

Buffy sighed tiredly. "Cordelia, we have to go and get Giles's books."

"I know, Buffy." said Cordelia. "But there's now way I'm going to be seen in public in the same outfit two days in a row."

"Oh, you could wear something of mine," offered Willow.

Cordelia threw a look at Buffy's outfit and let out a bark of laughter. "And look like that fashion disaster? I don't think so."

"Hey!" replied Willow and Buffy simultaneously.

"Cordelia!" snapped Buffy, "You're not helping. Now, are you going with us or not?"

"Not. But I'll meet you later at Giles's apartment."

"Fine. Everyone else ready?" At the Scoobies' confirming nods, Buffy said, "Good. Let's go."

One by one, everyone left the house. As they were walking out the front door, Willow grabbed Buffy's arm and pulled her aside. "Buffy, Giles was really shook up last night. Go easy on him today- please."

"We were all shook up last night, Will. Honestly, I'm more worried about my mom than Giles right now.

"Yeah, I know. But Giles is better at hiding it than the rest of us. And this affected him. Big time." Willow lowered her voice to a whisper. "He even hugged me."

Buffy looked momentarily confused. It was as though someone told her the sky was green instead of blue. "Giles hugged you? Mr. Reserve-Guy?"

"Yeah. I was kinda wigged."

"I get it. I too would have been wigged."

"So, anyway, he's probably going to be all stiff-upper-lippy, but whatever he's going through- he's gonna need to talk it out. And you're the only one he'll do that with.

Buffy knew her best friend had a point. If Giles was going to talk to anyone, it was going to be her. "Okay, Will. I'll see what I can do."

~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~

The gang split into pairs for the drive across town. Buffy and Xander went in Joyce's jeep and Willow and Oz took Oz's van. When they arrived at City Hall Giles was already there, waiting on the front steps- with Joyce. Saying that Buffy was surprised to see her mother would have been an understatement. "Um, Mom. What are you doing here? Are you... are you okay?"

Joyce's smile was tight lipped. "I'm fine, Buffy. I just came for the car."

Buffy gestured towards the jeep and said, "Oh. I could have brought it home. You didn't have to come all this way for-"

"Buffy," Joyce said, her voice strained. "You don't have a license, and you're not on the insurance. I don't feel comfortable with you driving. Just- please give me the keys."

Buffy walked silently to her mother and deposited the keys into Joyce's outstretched right hand. Joyce turned to Giles and whispered something in his ear. Buffy strained to hear, but even with her enhanced senses, Joyce words were inaudible. Giles nodded at whatever Joyce had told him and kissed her gently on the cheek. Joyce softly raised her hand to where Giles had kissed her. She stood still for a moment, then she walked slowly to her car. She got in, started the engine and drove away. Giles watched her go with no small amount of concern on his features.

The gang stood silently for a moment, unsure of what to say. Xander, of course, was the first one to break the silence. "Okay," he said. "What was that?"

The young man's voice seemed to shake Giles out of his thoughts. He looked around to appraise the situation and then began to give directions. "We're going to go in there and collect everything. Don't waste time sorting through any of those books. Just get everything you can find into Oz's van. When we get to my flat- we'll unload, then begin to sift through." Giles paused and looked around, taking a quick head count. "Where's Cordelia?"

"Fashion emergency," supplied Xander. "She'll be by later."

"Um, very good. Oz, I need you to wait by the van. As for the rest of you- let's get started."

Willow raised her hand. "Uh, Giles. How are we going to get in there? I mean, it's locked up, right?"

Giles reached into his pocket and pulled two small items. Buffy saw that they were one of her mother's hair pins, and a tiny screwdriver used for fixing eyeglasses. Giles looked at Willow and replied, "The same way I got in last night."

~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~

Several hours later the Scoobies were all sitting around Giles apartment sweating. The combination of dust and smoke from the books and the body heat of six very tired people had combined to make it quite hot. Giles had all his windows and his front door wide open, but it wasn't making a difference. At least we managed some progress, thought Giles.

Cordelia had arrived about two o'clock. At first, there were some grumbles about her not coming earlier, but she was instantly forgiven when she revealed that she had brought lunch from the deli downtown. After a sandwich break, everyone had gotten back to work. Their effort were not for nothing. They had managed to completely separate Giles's books from the others. Now, they were organizing, Giles's books into two categories- those that were salvageable, and those that were not. Fortunately, it looked like most of the books were going to fall into the former group.

Giles sighed and looked at his watch. It was already six-thirty. He rubbed the back of his neck to try and relieve the strain of sitting hunched over too long. Giles looked around at his helpers. He could tell that their attention was flagging. Willow and Oz had spent the last hour doing more cuddling than sorting. Cordelia was currently filing the nail she broke earlier, and Xander was shooting glares in her direction. Buffy was still working, albeit at a much slower pace. Giles cleared his throat and said, "Thank you all for the help. I couldn't have done it without you. But I can see that you're tired. So, if you'd like to go, feel free. I can do the rest myself. "

"Really!" Xander yelled, his voice filled with relief and joy. "We can go? Thank you, G-man. Bye. See you Monday." Xander quickly jumped up and headed out the front door and towards freedom.

"You're welcome," Giles called after him. "And don't call me that."

Cordelia stood from where she was surrounded by piles of tomes and said, "Not to take a page from the book of Xander, but I do have somewhere much more important to be. So, bye." She grabbed her bag and headed to her car.

Willow and Oz were the next to depart. Before they left, Willow asked Giles if he was sure he didn't need their help any longer. He assured her that he had everything under control and wished her a good evening. Finally, it was just him and Buffy in the apartment. "I guess I should get going too. See if Mom's okay," she said.

Giles regarded her for a minute. "Grab your purse," he said. "I'll drive you home."

Buffy and Giles rode the distance to Buffy's house in silence. When they arrived in the Summers' driveway, Giles stopped the car and turned off the engine. Neither of them moved. After a while, Buffy said, "I guess I should go inside."

"I guess you should."

"Giles-"

"Buffy, listen to me. Regardless of her demeanor this morning, your mother isn't mad at you. She's mad at herself."

"But it wasn't her fault!"

"And on some level she knows that. But the guilt will still be there. I know you don't blame her, but she blames herself, which is much worse. It will take time."

"I know." Buffy slumped back into her seat. She looked over at Giles and said, "Thank you."

He looked at her, puzzled. "For what?"

"For being there- taking care of her. She... she needs you. I see that now."

"Buffy, is there something you would like to discuss. About your mother and I-"

"No. Not right now. Just... not right now."

"Alright," Giles said quietly. Buffy reached for the door handle and was about to get out, when Giles put his hand on her shoulder. "Wait," he said as if his voice pained him. He took a deep breath to steady his thoughts. "I want- no, I need you to know something. Tonight. I- I don't know if I'll be able to tell you later." Buffy, sensing that Giles was struggling with what he was about to say, kept quiet as she waited for him to speak.

"I- I know it was hard for you to see Joyce- your mother- like she was last night." Buffy opened her mouth to speak, but Giles held up a hand to silence her. "Please let me finish. I know it was hard, because of the things she said. About wanting a normal daughter. I know she had difficulties accepting that you were the Slayer. She and I had many conversations while you were away. But to hear what Joyce felt... that way. To hear the person you love..." Giles's voice cracked on love and he had to take a second to compose himself. "To hear the person you love speak with so much hatred and anger, and to know that, under normal circumstances, they would never say such things. To know that they were being controlled by something dark that wasn't them. I... I think I finally know how you felt last year. With Angel."

"Giles..." began Buffy.

"No. I need to say this. I'm still not happy that you hid Angel from me. I'm not happy that you lied. Our ability to work as a team depends on honesty and trust. But I understand how you could take him back. How you could still love him. He and I will probably never be friends, but-"

"You'll stop giving him the eyeball-of-death every time he shows up."

Giles chuckled at Buffy's description. "Something like that. You best get inside." Buffy leaned over into Giles seat and gave him and awkward, car-hug, and then she got out of the car.

Just as she was about to shut the door, she asked, "Do you want to come inside?"

"Not this time, thank you."

Buffy grinned at him. She turned and headed up the walk to her front door. Giles watched her go with no small amount of pride. She was going to be okay. Both of them were. Giles put the car in reverse and back out of the driveway. Then he headed home."

To be continued....

*Author's note: Please let me know what you think of this chapter. I wrote it and really liked it, but then I realized it was a chapter about the Scoobies eating breakfast and sorting through books, which didn't sound particularly fascinating. Plus, I'm working without a beta, which is the writing equivalent of working without a net. No one to bounce ideas off of, except myself. And then they don't bounce well at all. They kinda just sit there.

Plus, tomorrow's my birthday (Leanne8582- 8/5/82- get it). And do you know what I want most of all... Reviews! Anyway, hope your still enjoying the story.

Next chapter: "Helpless". Oh boy.*