Summary: It's 1968 and Angel has found a moment of perfect happiness. Just what it means for Buffy remains to be seen. Not happy with the title, so this may change. Will take place at the beginning of Buffy/Season 2, but will deviate from original story line. Almost totally AU. Buffy/Angelus
Disclaimers: Mutant Enemy and Joss Whedon own it all. I'm just doing this for fun, and hopefully entertainment
Willow looked worriedly at Buffy. "So, you know Buffy, this could be a really good thing. I mean, you won't have to lie and keep secrets from your mom anymore."
Always looking for the best in all things, that was her Willow. "Hello, teenager here. That's what I'm suppose to do. She's so wigged out now she's probably going to attach one of those tracking devices to my ankle." Buffy took another deep breath and looked over in the direction of the library as she and Will made their way to their next class.
Joyce had come to school with Buffy that morning, determined to find out just exactly what power this man had over her daughter. While trying to explain her slayer status last night, Joyce couldn't help but notice just how often Buffy had mentioned Mr. Giles. She seemed to defer to him in all things. It appeared, according to Buffy, he knew everything, he was everything, and he had more of an influence over her daughter than she or Hank ever had. Although, she had to blame both herself and her ex on this front. Herself because she had been so consumed with the failure of her marriage and Hank because… well because he was Hank.
So, here she sat for the past two hours, listening to Mr. Giles trying to explain her daughter and the supernatural to a woman who was in the dark about both. And feeling more than a little jealous.
"She's only sixteen Mr. Giles. This is too much responsibility for such a little girl. I want her to be a teenager, not the savior of the world." Her voice caught on those last four words and Joyce felt herself very close to breaking down.
Sitting down next to Joyce, Giles took her hand . "Buffy is a remarkable young woman. You should be very proud of her. She is quite possibly the strongest and ablest of any recorded slayer. Despite her youth, she has great leadership capabilities and I believe that in no small way is a direct result of you. No other slayer has lived with their family until they have been called and I am of the theory that the love and security of her family has given us a new breed of slayer." He hadn't meant to go on about this in such gushing detail, but he felt the need to comfort the woman and also assure that she wouldn't pack Buffy up and head for the nearest Amish community.
Thank you Mr. Giles. I will need to think on this. I have to do what is best for my daughter. And after seeing the danger she was in last night…although I'm sure my being a distraction didn't help…I just want her safe."
"Yes, well. As you did see last night she is quite capable of handling most situations. Her slayer strength and healing are quite extraordinary." Giles took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to be patient and understanding, but fighting the desire to shake this woman and make her understand the importance and seriousness of the situation.
"I'm just very grateful that young man was there to help us."
Giles head snapped up. "Help? Buffy had help? She didn't tell me about this."
"Well, I suppose she hasn't had time, what with trying to keep me from a complete breakdown. And I don't suppose she tells you every little thing either, Mr. Giles." Joyce knew she sounded petulant and jealous, but she didn't like the way Mr. Giles was so sure of the closeness between himself and her young daughter. Couldn't they have found a female watcher?
He did pick up on her irritation and possessiveness, but chose to ignore it. "Yes, well, I expect we'll catch up later."
Joyce frowned and stood to leave, "Yes, I expect you will. Thank you for your time Mr. Giles. And I expect we'll talk again soon." With that she left Rupert Giles with quite a bit of contingency plans to work out. He'd best call the council and give them an update on his slayer. He was sure they would not be pleased and were sure to try to use their extensive resources to pull Buffy closer to the fold. He didn't want that for his slayer. She loved her mother and was sure that any attempt to make her choose would not work for her or for the council.
"Where are you going?" Joyce wasn't sure how to handle the whole slayer situation, but she felt her maternal instincts kick into full throttle.
"On patrol and then over to The Bronze to meet Willow and Xander." Buffy decided factual was the road to take with her mother. No whining, no explanations. Just the facts.
"I don't know Buffy. Are you going alone? Will Mr. Giles be with you? Maybe you should leave an itinerary of where you'll be patrolling. Or maybe one of those cellular telephones?" Her voice was gradually going up octaves as she spoke.
Buffy felt her mother's panic and felt a bit of her own, as well as a mixture of anger and suffocation. She understood her mother's fear, but what would she do if her mother forbade her do her job? "Mom, really, I've been doing this for quite awhile. I know what I'm doing, please trust me."
Joyce looked incredulous. "Trust you? You've kept this huge secret from me for years and you expect me to trust you? I'm on the verge of shipping you off to a boarding school I can't afford and you're asking me to trust you?"
"Mom," her voice pleading. "This is more, bigger than you or me, I so sound like an old movie, but really. I didn't ask for this, but it's me. It's mine. It's not something you can just put on restriction. And it's important. Please mom, don't ask me to choose."
Bristling at the tone in her daughter's voice, Joyce stood and faced Buffy. "Are you threatening me young lady?"
"No mom. No threats. Just facts. I'm the slayer. Geography won't change that fact. We're on the Hellmouth, you brought us here for some reason, another fact that you can't deny. And the last fact, I'm not leaving. I can't." With that last comment, Buffy turned to leave the room.
"If you walk out that door Buffy Anne Summers don't bother coming back. I have had enough of this nonsense. I am the adult here, you are the child. What I say goes. Are we clear?"
Buffy stopped asking all the gods for the courage to make the right decision, without turning she spoke. "I love you mom. I always will, but I do this because I have to. It's what I am. And I do it for you as well as the rest of the world. Can't you see that?"
"Buffy, you are just a child. You have been brainwashed by that council and by that Giles person. Those who can't do, teach Buffy. And what's he's taught you is wrong, crazy. What is your decision?" Joyce had to stand her ground; this was for Buffy's sake. She needed to leave this madness behind her. She would not support her in this insanity and if she had to use tough love to make her daughter see the light, well then, so be it. Let her try to live her life with these people who were not her family, see how longthey stood by her.
Buffy slowly turned to look into her mother's face and saw the resolution in it and feltthe resolution growing in her own. "Can I get my school books and pack a few things before I leave?"