A/N : I haven't been feeling so good the last couple of days but I managed to hammer out this chapter, I wanted to get it done so I could concentrate on the next chapter of One Wild Night (it's gonna be long and, I think, popular with the readers!) Anyway, thanx to those people who reviewed this fic - SpIkEs AnGeL, fictionfreak2, SweetBitter, Vivid Butterfly, tinkerbell42, SouthernRain, Kristy Marie, Slayer87, SlayGal - and to think I almost decided not to write this story! I'm so glad that I did now, all your reviews make me glad :-)
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 8 : Remember The Day - 1986
It was sixth months after the funeral of their partners and best friends, that the remaining two finally talked properly. Despite the best efforts of the female half of the equation, the male half had been so broken by what had happened, he hardly went out other than to drop Willow off with the child minder and go to work.
William remained in England with his grandparents this whole time. It had turned out that his great-grandma was holding on by a thread but never quite died and the old Mr and Mrs Giles refused to leave until the terrible day came. They had offered to fly their son out to be with them or simply just to come and fetch his little boy, but he'd refused, saying that William was probably better off with them right now, he had turned five now and had been enrolled at a primary school. I'm sure he missed his parents but everyone seemed to think they were doing the right thing for him.
Anyway, it's actually not him I wanted to tell you about right now. This is what happened when two old friends finally talked about their loss, after too long of being silent...
There was a knock on the door and Giles didn't even consider moving to answer it. He was staring blankly at the TV which was switched off, with Willow on the floor near his feet, rolling around with her toys and giggling to herself.
"Giles, please open the door" a woman's voice called, "It's Joyce" she informed him and still he was just as happy remaining still than he was anything else.
"You have to talk to someone at some point" his friend complained, "What would Jenny think of you locking yourself away like this"
That was what did it. Immediately Giles was on his feet and by the door, tearing it open suddenly.
"Don't mention her to me" he said fairly menacingly but Joyce was not alarmed. She hoisted Buffy up more comfortably on her hip and looked defiantly at the man before her.
"She was my best friend" she said, looking him right in the eye, "and I lost her and my husband at the same time. It seems I've lost my only other best friend too" she finished, turning her back on him, but not actually walking away.
"Come in" she heard him say behind her and with a sigh she turned back and followed him into the apartment he and Willow lived in.
Despite the fact that they had so far seen little of each other, Buffy was eager to be sat down on the floor with Willow and the two children were soon rolling around the carpet with a ball. For a while Joyce and Giles, seated together on the sofa, watched the children play.
"She looks like you" Giles said quietly, his eyes flitting from Buffy to Joyce. The woman smiled.
"Thankyou" she said, looking down at her daughter, "but sometimes when she looks at me, I see Hank in those eyes of hers"
Giles nodded that he understood, sometimes Willow reminded him so much of Jenny, it physically hurt to look. As much as he loved William, he knew having two of them, two little people with Jenny's spirit in their eyes, the very thought was too much, the reality he was sure would kill him right now.
"Why do you hide yourself away?" Joyce had to ask, "It won't help"
"Nothing helps" came Giles' grim reply, "Over six months since it happened and I just..." he trailed off, not crying but close to tears and it only made Joyce want to cry too.
"We could help each other" Joyce managed to say, swallowing hard to drown the lump in her throat, "We need to try, for them" she told her friend, her eyes shifting to the two smiling children on the floor.
"She needs a mother" Giles said in a whisper, "I need my wife"
"I know" Joyce choked back another sob as she remembered only too well that her child was to grow up without a father, that she was to grow old without a husband.
Silence reigned for a few moments, until the girls started to giggle at heavan only knows what, they looked so happy together.
"Things were simpler then" Giles said sadly and Joyce was a little confused, off her expression he explained, "Being their age" he half-smiled at a memory, "even older, being teenagers, we were happy then weren't we?" he reminisced.
"We were" Joyce agreed with a sniff and a sigh, she surprised the man beside her and even herself as she began to laugh, "It's ridiculous, I had the biggest crush on you" she admitted, going red when she realised what she'd just said.
Giles looked over at her, completely seriously, not laughing at all when he replied.
"It's not ridiculous, I liked you too" he told her, "It was just..." he trailed off as he realised his reasons for not dating Joyce were the two people whom they now mourned, and for a split second the thought occurred that he still liked Joyce and there was nothing to stop them now...but the idea passed by as they do and he brought his eyes back to the carpet.
"Things might have been different" Joyce sighed, voicing thoughts that perhaps she shouldn't, but she'd spent to long in silence, "If you and I had gotten together...these kids might have been ours...I don't regret my marriage and I miss Hank and Jenny terribly but...I don't know sometimes I just wonder..." there were too many thoughts getting confused in her head and some of them were making Joyce feel more guilty than she could stand. It wasn't long before she was crying.
Like a reflex, Giles' arm went around her shoulders and pulled her close, fighting back his own tears. Somehow without even meaning to, they'd both thought things that seemed to blemish the memory of their loved ones.
"It'll be alright" Giles told Joyce as he held her, "we'll learn to move on...eventually" he said, though he was far from certain he could, it did help having his friend there with him. They were comfort for each other, company and a familiar face.
As Joyce pulled back out of his arms and looked at him, there was a moment when their eyes locked. She nodded, in response to what he had said before, words suddenly becoming an issue under the intensity of his gaze. Which one of them moved first, neither was really sure, but in seconds they were kissing and despite the fact they knew it should feel wrong, it felt more right than anything else ever had.
As Buffy and Willow collided on the floor, both shrieked and their parents jumped apart. They silently looked at the kids and then each other, struggling to comprehend what they were doing and what the other was thinking.
Buffy began to cry loudly, which also set Willow off and their respective parents rushed to pick them up and hold them. Joyce quickly mumbled something about taking Buffy home and made for the door but Giles had one thing he needed to say first.
"Thankyou" he called behind her and she turned once to acknowledge that she'd heard him, "You're right, I think we can make it...together"
They shared a small smile as Joyce left the apartment and Giles went back to attempting to stop the child on his lap from crying. As he held the little girl and rocked her gently to stop her sobbing, his mind was not totally on her. For the first time in six months, his thoughts were not solely of Jenny and Hank's deaths. Something had just changed between him and Joyce, something he was glad about, and he'd meant what he said about them making it together, he believed they really could now.
Well, that's how it started, how the people I call Mom and Dad started to get it together. It wasn't simple by any means, but that kiss on that day, it set off a chain reaction that would end up with our little family...
To Be Continued...
