A/N : Thanx to; EmilyTheStrange1, SpIkEs AnGeL, SouthernRain, fashiongrrl, SweetBitter, Slayer87, courtney, SlayGal. You are all very kind with your nice comments, and I'm really glad you're enjoying the story. A couple more chapters and we'll be heading back to the present day, so teenage Buffy and Willow at high school and everything, and yes, when we get to that point, William will be coming home. And Rachel, believe me when I tell you that it might be magic that helps me to write all these fics, cos I honestly don't have a real explanation, lol. Now...read, enjoy, and review (please)!
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)
Chapter 9 : Mommy and Daddy - 1987
After that first kiss that myself and Willow accidentally interrupted, the people we would both see one day as our parents kind of dated for a while. It wasn't a regular, normal sort of a relationship, it could never be, not with the history of them and their friends and partners, but they got closer than before. I think they kind of started all over again, they went back to being those two teenagers that were attracted to each other and this time nothing stood in the way, nothing except some painful memories. But you can't live in the past, you have to learn from it and move on...God I sound freakishly like my mother. Not that it's any bad thing, I mean I love my Mom, but I'm seventeen for God sakes, not forty five! Anyway, this is not what you want to hear, you want me to get to the point about myself and my problem with being in love with a guy that's kind of my brother. I swear we'll get to that soon, but first I thought you might like to know exactly how my little family became what it is today...
"Joyce?" Giles checked to see if the woman whose head leant on his chest was actually completely asleep.
"Mmm" came her quiet reply, her eyes already closed. She was so comfortable lying on the sofa with this man's arm holding her close.
"How do you see our future together?"
Joyce's eyes were suddenly open at Rupert's unexpected question.
"What do you mean?" she asked, shifting her position so she could look at him properly.
"Well, I love you" he smiled "and I'm sure that much is obvious, at least I hope it is"
"It is" she smiled back, before reaching up to kiss him lightly, "and I love you too" she assured him.
"Well, in light of that" Giles began again, looking and sounding a little nervous "I thought perhaps we might try to be a proper family" off Joyce's slightly puzzled expression he continued "What I mean to say is, Willow will need a female influence in her life, perhaps Buffy might need a male one too..." he trailed off, frustrated with himself for explaining all this so badly. He'd had a speech planned but it was all coming out wrong.
"What are you trying to say, Rupert?" Joyce asked him as he began to wonder the very same thing himself.
"What I'm trying to say" he began again, hoping a deep breath and some concentration might actually help him to get out a grammatically correct sentence "is that, I know it's not much over a year since we lost...them" he avoided the names of the wife he'd lost and Joyce's past husband too "but us four being together feels so right, like a real family...I wondered, Joyce, would you perhaps consider marrying me?"
"Oh God" the woman who had been half lying across him suddenly sat bolt upright, hand covering her mouth in shock, it was the last thing she'd expected Rupert to say. Unfortunately the man took her shock for disgust.
"I'm so sorry" he said, quickly, looking anywhere except at the woman he was talking to "I've shocked you, moved too quickly, I didn't mean to, I just..."
Giles was quickly silenced as Joyce leaned over and kissed him, he was so surprised he didn't respond and was still wide-eyed, as well as a little worse for wear through lack of oxygen, when she pulled away and began to speak to him.
"Rupert" she smiled, her hand on his cheek as she looked into his eyes "if there's one shred of good that came out of that tragic day, it was that I learnt some things" she told him seriously "Don't take anything for granted. Every day is precious. If you see something you want, you have to go for it, grab it with both hands and don't ever let it go" tears came to eyes as she finished speaking and one droplet slid down her face.
"Is that a yes?" Giles asked hopefully as he wiped the lone tear away.
"Yes, it's a yes" Joyce smiled and nodded, before the two shared another kiss.
It didn't take long for the subject of adoption to come up. They wanted us to be a proper family in every way and so I was adopted by the man I now call Dad, Rupert Giles, whilst my real Mom, Joyce, became official mother of Willow too. William was left with his grandparents in England, which on reflection seems like a rather cruel thing to do to a small child. I know my parents have regretted it, ever since their decision to let him stay with the two people I can now call my grandparents, but at the time I know they had William's best interests at heart. He'd become settled in England, at a nice school and with lots of friends. I was just two and a half when the wedding came around and of course never even questioned the absence of a boy I was later to learn to see as my brother.
To Be Continued...
[Coming Very Soon (tomorrow, hopefully) :
One Wild Night - Chapter 9 - Kiss & Don't Always Tell]
