Author's note: Thanks Nat, flystardusterkm, and Whitewolf 3 for all the reviews last time. And a belated thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, even though I totally fished for it. Also, I just got the third season on DVD. Theoretically, this will make the fic better. We'll see. ;)

This chapter is dedicated to Amanda, my beta, who did a fantastic job.

*Takes place almost immediately after the last chapter*

Stepfather

Chapter 9: Helpless Part 2

Giles's rickety Citroen made a distinctive wheezing noise has it pulled up in front of the Summers house. Buffy looked warily at the dashboard, as if she expected the engine to literally fall out of the car and onto the pavement. Giles brought the car to a grateful halt and turned off the ignition. He turned to his slayer sitting in the passenger seat. The cut above her right eye had begun to bleed through the dressing he had applied to it. "You'll need to change that," he said.

"What? Oh," said Buffy as she realized as to what Giles was referring. "Yeah," she said as she gingerly touched her forehead. "New bandage, some ice to bring the swelling down. Should be right as rain."

"Yes, well...." Giles said, looking down. "Your strength and healing abilities should began to return in a few days. You'll be completely back to normal in about a week."

"Good. About the normalness, I mean. Not that damsel-in-distressing it wasn't tons of fun...." Buffy cut herself off when she saw Giles's hurt expression. "Giles, I... I don't blame you. I don't. I'll just feel a lot better when I'm not helpless anymore."

"Buffy, I think you've proved tonight that you'll never be helpless."

"That's the same thing Angel said."

Giles shrugged and said, "Occasionally, Angel has proven himself to be quite insightful."

The ghost of a smile appeared on Buffy's features. "I'm sure he'll appreciate that almost-compliment."

"Buffy-"

"Not a conversation I want to have tonight, Giles."

"Understandable. Don't you think you should head inside?"

"No."

"Um-"

"Giles, I need to tell you something." She paused to make sure he was really listening. At his nod, she continued. "I know I don't talk about Merrick much. My, my first Watcher. He was a good man."

"I know."

"You know?"

"I mean, that is to say, I knew him. Merrick."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

"There was no reason for you to have known. I didn't tell you. Besides, even if I had never met him, I had his diaries. A Watcher's diaries are intensely personal. I feel like I've known every Watcher whose diaries I've read. Even those who have been dead for centuries. But, please, go on."

"Well, um, I only knew him a short time- a couple of weeks- before Lothos killed him. And I felt so many things during those few weeks. And it wasn't until afterward that I could sort it all out. I was just this girl. Buffy. Then, all of the sudden, I've got this sacred birthright that automatically comes with a short life span. And I didn't want it. I wanted to go shopping and hang out with my friends. But at the same time, it was a little cool. I was kind of a drama queen and the secret identity fit in with that. Problem was I couldn't tell anyone."

Buffy paused for a moment to organize her thoughts and continued. "So, time went on. It was like, everywhere I went there was a vamp. Out with my friends, with my parents. Turns out it was Lothos. Testing me. But my life had begun to fall apart. I got kicked off the cheerleading squad for missing too many practices. My grades had started to slip- more. My teacher and the school councilor all thought I was on drugs. Plus, I was having to kill vamps that used to be the people I'd hang with. I went to a dance with Tyler and three months later, I staked him with the handle of my hairbrush. And my parents, well, they always fought. I can barely remember when they got along. But all the sudden, their fights stopped being about how my mom spent money or Teresa, my dad's secretary. They were about me. How I was out of control and dangerous."

"And then, one night, I just wanted it to be over. I went after Lothos on my own. I figured that if I killed him, the vamps would stop coming, and it'd be over. I think that somewhere, in the back of my mind, I also knew that if I failed, Lothos would kill me and it would still be over. But when I didn't show up for my patrol assignment, Merrick figured out where I had gone. He caught up with me and tried to stop me. Lothos killed him in front of me. Then he let me go. I still don't know why."

"Buffy, perhaps tonight isn't-"

"No. I want to finish. So, long story short, my parents split became official, I burnt down the gym and was expelled from Hemery, and then my parents had me committed. I went from Homecoming queen to cautionary tale. And somewhere in there I killed Lothos and most of his clan. When we moved to Sunnydale, it was supposed to be a new beginning. Where no one knew me, and I didn't have to be a superhero. But then I walked into the library, and there you were."

"Yes, I recall that you weren't to pleased to see me."

"Giles, at that moment, I've never hated anyone more in my entire life." Buffy caught the hurt expression on the librarian's face. "Oh. don't be like that. Anyway, here I was, new school, new friends, no criminal record, and you wanted to drag me back in. I just couldn't deal. It was like, I'd paid my debt. I gave up my home, and my friends, and my life for the cause. I was square. And here you were, asking me to do it again; I hated you for it."

"I imagine so."

"Yeah, well, I hated you in a way that I could never hate Merrick. Everything just happened so fast with him. I was the slayer, then it was training every night. And the constant vamp attacks. Then he was dead; he gave his life to save mine. I felt so guilty, I couldn't feel anything else. Then you showed up: my perfect target. But then that vamp grabbed Willow at the Bronze, and I knew I was the only one who could save her. You weren't trying to ruin my life, you were just trying to protect everyone else."

"Buffy took a deep breath to steady her emotions, then said, "And when you were going to go after the Master in my place. It was just too much like Merrick trying to stop me from facing Lothos. I couldn't watch you be killed- have another man's blood on my hands. But I knew that second, that you cared about me. I wasn't just a job to you."

"Buffy, you'll never-"

Buffy held up a hand to interrupt him. "Let me finish. So, more stuff happened. And here we are."

"Indeed."

"The point of this extra fun sharefest: I know you Giles, so I'm going to tell you what's going to happen. You're forgiven. So I don't want you to spend six months feeling guilty and doing me favors and letting me slack on patrol. I need you to be Giles. Especially with this new idiot coming. Agreed?"

"Yes, Ma'am," said Giles with a grin.

"Okay. Giles, I know I've never told you, but I... I love you. You're like... I don't know."

"Buffy, I know you're angry with your father-"

"NO! This is not about him. He chose to spend my birthday with his damn quarterly projections instead of me. I could have died tonight, and he wouldn't have ever known why. You just lost your job because of me. You're more like my father than he's been in a long time."

Giles sighed and brushed a stray lock of hair out of Buffy's eyes. "Dear, sweet girl. I would be honored to have a daughter such as you." Giles drew Buffy into his arms and they hugged as best the could, with both of them still being belted in. Buffy started to cry. "Shhh," Giles whispered in her ear. It'll be alright."

Buffy broke the embrace and unbuckled her belt. She chuckled a little and said, "We need to really stop having these emotional moments in your car. The upholstery sucks. And it's really hard to hug someone around a stick shift."

Giles grinned. "I promise next time we'll find a more suitable location."

"Good. I should go in," she said, gesturing at the lit house in front of them. "Why don't you come over tomorrow for breakfast. I can probably get mom to make waffles."

"I'm not certain I'll be welcome."

"Just come over. You and Mom need to have the big talk anyway. Might as well do it over food."

"Alright. Eight o'clock?"

"Mmm. Make it ten. Bye, Giles." Buffy jumped out of the car and ran into the house. Giles watched her go. He waited for a minute, to make sure she safely got inside, then he pulled away from the curb and started home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Buffy entered the house as quietly as she could. Though she soon found out her fears of waking her mother were groundless. Joyce was waiting for Buffy to arrive. She was perched on the end of the couch with a mug of coffee and an untouched book in front of her.

When Joyce saw her daughter enter the room, she jumped up from her seat. "Buffy! Where's Rupert? Why are you still bleeding? What's going on?"

Buffy took a deep breath and dropped her weapons bag at the foot of the stairs. "I'll explain everything. I just need to change this bandage first," she said pointing at her forehead.

Buffy headed upstairs to the bathroom. She flicked on the light and blinked at the sudden brightness. She bent over, reached into the cabinet under the sink and pulled out her first aid kit. It was a large gray and red tackle box that she bought a couple years ago at a sporting good store. Buffy liked it, because it was large enough to hold everything she would ever need and the handle on top made it easy to carry.

Buffy redressed her wound and went back to join her mother in the living room. Joyce was sitting in the exact same spot on the couch, as she was when Buffy first came in. Buffy wouldn't have even known Joyce had moved, except for the fresh steaming mug of hot chocolate that sat next to Joyce's coffee. As Buffy sat on the couch next to her mother, Joyce motioned at the mug wordlessly. Buffy picked it up and took a small sip. She smiled gratefully at Joyce.

Buffy took a deep breath. "Okay. Giles went home, but I invited him back for breakfast tomorrow at ten o'clock- if it's okay with you?" Joyce nodded in confirmation.

Buffy steeled herself. She knew this wasn't going to be easy. "Mom, I'm going to tell you what's been happening to me for the past week. I want you to promise that you won't freak out or interrupt until I finish. Promise?"

"Buffy...?"

"Promise?"

"I promise."

"Good." Buffy preceded to tell Joyce the whole story, starting from when she first started to feel weak, and ended with Quentin Travers's decision to terminate Giles. She left out no details; she even included the gang's abortive attempts at researching and Angel's confession that he'd seen Buffy called.

When Buffy finished her story, she said, "I know you're probably really angry at Giles, but I know he loves you. And I think you should give him a second chance." When Joyce didn't respond Buffy said, "Mom? What... what are you thinking?"

Joyce tiredly put her hand to her temple. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I just can't... it's a lot of information to absorb all at once. I need to sleep on it."

"Um, okay. I'll just go get some sleep then."

"Okay," answered Joyce distractedly, not moving from her curled up position on the couch.

"Well, goodnight."

Buffy started up the stairs, but Joyce called out to her, "You said Rupert is coming over tomorrow at ten?"

"Yeah," Buffy replied. Joyce didn't say anything else, so Buffy went to her room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, the door bell of the Summers' house rang at exactly ten o'clock. "I'll get it," Buffy yelled to Joyce who was in the kitchen.

Buffy ran into the living room and flung the front door open. "Hi, Giles," she said brightly.

"Ah, hello, Buffy. You're....." he broke off as he observed Buffy's attire. She had her hair pulled back in a loose ponytail and was wearing a pair of dark blue pajamas adorned with little black and white Scottie dogs. "Um," he continued, "Am I early? Sh- should I come back."

Buffy looked confused. "Why?"

"Oh. No reason." Giles stepped over the threshold and Buffy closed the door behind him. "You're looking better," he added. And she was. The cut on her forehead was still prominent, but the swelling had gone down, and it looked as though some of the smaller bruises were starting to fade.

"Yeah," she said, slightly self-conscious. "It barely even hurts anymore. Mom's in the kitchen," Buffy continued as she began to lead Giles through the house. "We're having Belgian waffles- my favorite. We even have fresh strawberries, and whipped cream, and real butter, and syrup- three kinds. And- Giles, what are you wearing?" Buffy came to a sudden halt as she interrupted herself.

Giles was thrown by the sharp turn in the conversation and it took him a minute to catch up. "What? This? it's....it's what I usually wear," he said looking down at his suit and tie combination.

"I know," said Buffy. "It's a suit."

"Yes...?"

"Giles, it's Saturday!" When he continued to look at her blankly, she added, "Morning!"

Giles still stood there uncomprehendingly, so Buffy just sighed and led him to the kitchen. Giles was quite relieved when, upon entering the kitchen, he found Joyce to be dressed. She was wearing a simple outfit of khaki slacks and a white tennis blouse.

Joyce was just finishing up. She had a huge serving platter of waffles, along with all the accoutrements, laid out on the center island. She looked up as Giles and Buffy entered the room. Joyce smiled politely at him, pointed to the island, and said, "Help yourself."

Buffy immediately leapt at the food. Giles and Joyce just watched in amazement as she fixed herself a plate with three waffles smothered with butter, boysenberry syrup and whipped cream. She set the plate on the table and went to the fridge to pour herself a glass of milk. The she grabbed the glass, the plate a fork, and precariously started out of the room.

"Buffy? Where are you going?" asked Joyce.

"Upstairs. My room." Buffy motioned with the hand holding the full glass of milk. "I've got homework to do."

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather eat in here with us?"

"Yup," said Buffy. The she turned and quickly left the room.

Giles and Joyce watched her go. After a moment, they seemed to realize that they were alone in the room together. Joyce fiddles with her coffee mug awkwardly. She looked up at Giles and asked, "Would you like anything to drink? I remembered to make tea. It's Darjeeling. I know it's not what you usually prefer, but-"

"Tea would be lovely. Thank you."

"Cream and one sugar, correct?"

Giles smiled. "Yes."

Joyce busied herself at the counter, fixing Giles's tea. When she was finished she brought the mug over to Giles. He took it appreciatively. "Do you want some waffles?" she asked.

"Actually, not feeling up to eating just yet?"

Joyce motioned towards the dinning room. "Maybe we should sit down." They went into the dinning room and chose chairs across the table from one another. Giles took a quick sip of his tea and looked up at Joyce. "I need to tell you about last night. And about why Buffy isn't healing."

"I know," said Joyce softly.

"Oh?"

"Buffy filled me in last night," she said by way of explanation.

"I see." Giles paused for a moment, then said, "So is this where you show me to the door and wish me a happy life?"

"Before we get to that, I have a couple of questions."

"Please."

"You told me, when I asked you why you became a Watcher, that you didn't have a choice?"

"Yes. My father told me when I was ten years old that it was my destiny to be a Watcher, like he and my grandmother before me. I rebelled a bit, but I eventually acquiesced. I realized all the good I could do. All the people I could help."

Joyce nodded, remembering what he had told her before. "And Buffy told me that the Council fired you, because of me, and because you tried to stop the... the..." Joyce faltered on the unfamiliar word.

"Crucimentum," Giles offered. "The test."

"Yes, Buffy's test. You tried to stop it before Buffy went to the house."

"Yes."

"Then I know all I need to know."

Giles was suddenly overcome with sadness. He stood, uncomfortably, not wanting to let Joyce see the his eyes water. "I... I need.... I'll..."

Joyce quickly stood and grasped Giles's hands in her own. "Rupert, stop. Please sit back down." Giles returned to his seat, still unwilling to look at Joyce. She released his hands, then said, "It's hard, being a single mother. In some ways, it's like going back to before you ever got married. Back to one paycheck. Back to work. Back to dating. And, at the same time, it's completely different. Everything you do, affects this child that you're raising. I couldn't just pick up and move anywhere I want. I couldn't make these unilateral decision. Every option in my life had to be weighed against the question: how will this affect Buffy?"

"I can't imagine what a strain that must be."

"It's tough. Especially dating. I mean, when you're middle aged, with a kid, handsome, successful men aren't exactly beating down the door. And, even if I get asked on a date, I have to consider how Buffy will react to him and he to her. Will they get along? Because I just couldn't be with someone, no matter how much I cared for them, if they didn't like Buffy. And in my case, I have an even more complex situation. Even if everything is great, I still have to worry about how they'll react when they find out that vampires and zombies and demons are just stuff out of fairy tales. And that my little girl, who is strong enough to bench press three grown men, is a professional killer of things that go bump in the night. I mean, Buffy and I still haven't even told Hank about all this. He wouldn't be able to adapt to it and he's her father."

Joyce ran her fingers through her hair, anxiously. "I love you, Rupert." At this, Giles looked up at Joyce, his face was filled with hope. "I do. You are the kindest, most thoughtful, smartest man I've ever know. And in a world filled with monsters you make me feel safe. When something good happens to me, you're the first person I want to share it with. And when something bad happens, you're the shoulder I want to cry on. And when there's a new piece at the gallery, the first thing I think is, 'I wonder if Rupert would like this?' And when I look into the future, I see you there."

At this point, Joyce was nearly in tears, but she continued. "And I see how you are with Buffy, and I realize how lucky I am. She respects you. You may not know it, but you're Buffy's favorite person in the world. And now this. Do you realize what you've done? You've given up your livelihood, your profession, and three generations of your family's tradition for us. Most women would give their right arm to have a boyfriend who was fired for loving their children too much." Joyce paused as that sentence worked it's way around in her brain. "Uh, that didn't come out right."

Giles grinned. "I understood what you meant."

"We've all made mistakes. I, myself, have done some unforgivable things. But I know that this one mistake is not worth throwing our relationship away over."

"Joyce, I love you. With all my heart. And when I look into my future, I see you." Giles stood and quickly picked Joyce up off the ground in a bone-crushing hug. Joyce's hands roamed over his features, then she tangled them in his hair. Giles kissed her. He poured all the passion, and worry and frustration he had been feeling for the last couple of days into that kiss. Joyce kissed back with an equal fervency. The only broke apart when they heard a soft coughing from behind them. Dazed, Giles turned around and saw a very amused Buffy standing in the door way.

Buffy grinned like the cat that had caught every canary. "So, I came down for more waffles. Do you want any? Giles?"

Joyce looked at Giles and said, "Yes, are you hungry?"

Giles looked at them both and replied, "Absolutely famished."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giles was quite pleased to discover that Buffy had gotten dressed while she had been upstairs. The three of them sat down and polished off the entire stack of waffles. Then Buffy and Giles did the dishes. Just as Giles was washing the last of the plates, the doorbell rang again. Buffy left up from her place at the sink and ran to the door. Soon she reentered to kitchen with Willow, Xander, and Oz in tow.

Xander did a double take when he saw how was at the sink. "Hey, look. It's Giles. And he's all domestic."

"Nice to see you as well, Xander," said Giles dryly.

"Giles, what are you doing here?" asked Willow.

"He's checking up on me and spending time with Mom," Buffy answered.

"Oh. That's why were here," said Willow.

"Yeah," added Oz. "except for the part about spending time with your Mom."

"Well, no, not that," said Willow. "But we wanted to come by, see how you were feeling today."

"And have lunch," added Xander.

"Ooh. Lunch," said Buffy.

Giles couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Buffy, you just finished breakfast!"

Buffy looked at Giles like he had just proved her point for her. "Ergo, time for lunch."

The teenaged Scoobies simultaneously discussed what to have for lunch and listened to Buffy tell them of the events of the previous night. Joyce came back into the room just when Buffy was telling the part of the story where she came home to find that Kralik had taken her mother (and the fourth suggestion of pizza toppings was vetoed by Willow). She and Giles finished up the last couple of dishes and listened to Buffy tell the Scoobies the rest of the previous night's events.

Though she told no outright lies, Buffy did gloss over Giles's involvement in drugging her. If Giles or Joyce noticed, neither of them said anything. By the time that Buffy was recounting her fight with Kralik, sandwiches had been decided upon. Joyce and Giles quickly got busy rounding up all the fixings for peanut butter and jelly.

Buffy and Xander grabbed bread and started to put the sandwiches together. Buffy quickly wrapped up her story. Though all the kids were surprised that Giles had been fired, Willow seemed to take it the hardest.

"I can't believe Giles was fired," she said as she grabbed a jug of lemonade out of the refrigerator. She turned to Giles. "How could you get fired?"

"So, how did you manage to kill Kralik?" asked Oz.

"Oh, she was very clever," answered Joyce. Buffy raised her eyebrows at her mother. "Uh, you go ahead and tell it, dear. You tell it better."

"Now, now when you say 'fired', do you mean 'fired'?" Willow said.

"You're not cruising past that concept any time soon, are you?" asked Xander.

"Well, it's just... I mean, he's been fired! He's, he's unemployed! He's... between jobs."

"You needn't worry," said Giles.

Buffy nodded in agreement and said, "Giles isn't going anywhere, Will. He's still librarian."

Willow seemed slightly appeased by this news and said, "Okay, but I'm writing an angry letter."

"What I'm totally wigging about," said Xander, "is that the Watchers Council has been , um, watching you. So how long have you been on double secret probation?"

"I have no idea what that is, but I think their operatives has probably been following me for at least a month." At everyone's shocked expression, Giles continued, "You don't have to worry. I'm fired now, so the Council's hidden spies will go home and the more obvious one will arrive."

At everyone's confused look, Buffy clarified. "The new Watcher. The one replacing Giles." She shrugged and said, "You know, even with this new guy, nothing's really gonna change. The important thing is that I kept up my special birthday tradition of gut-wrenching misery and horror."

"Bright side to everything," Oz said stoically.

Buffy grabbed a new jar of peanut butter. She struggled with it for a few minutes, before giving up. She sighed and said grumpily, "Just feel better when I get my strength back."

Xander grinned and held out his hand for the jar. "Give you a hand with that, little lady?" he offered.

Buffy smirked and handed him the stubborn container. "You're loving this far too much."

"Admit it," he said as he struggled with the jar. "Sometimes you just need a big strong man." Xander wrestled with the peanut butter some more, until finally, "Uh, Giles, gimme a hand with that."

To be continued....

*A/N* Yes, I know I played it fast and loose with the pre-show canon. And you all know how picky I am about things like sticking with the canon. But I figure if Joss can't decide about what happened before Buffy came to Sunnydale, then it's open to interpretation.

Please review and let me know what you thought.

Next chapter: "The Zeppo." See you there boys and girls.