Characters and settings are used without permission, and with no intention of damaging copyright in the original stories. This story may not be distributed on any profit-making basis. Distribution Fanfiction.net, Twisting The Hellmouth, Fonts of Wisdom, other sites please ask. I'm British, so's my spelling - live with it.
by Marcus L. Rowland
VII
"How do you like the idea of being a fairy godmother?" Tara asked Billie as she finished her burger.
"Literally or figuratively?" asked Billie, eating a last fry. Cordelia eyed the remaining fries hungrily, but determinedly stuck to her salad, eating it with one hand while rocking Connor with the other.
"A mixture of both. Willow and I will be casting a protective spell for Connor after sunset tonight, I suppose you could describe it as an inoculation against bad luck, if it works really well it might give him unusually good luck. Won't last forever, but with Holtz around and the other problems I've heard about it might just help."
"What can I do? I'm not a witch."
"The spell works best with three women in the main circle; the closer the relationship between them, the better the spell should work. Willow and I are pretty close, but any sort of blood relationship is better still. We don't have that sort of close relationship with any of the other women here; Willow and Cordy are friends but not close, neither of us really knows Fred very well, and April's a robot and we're not sure how that would work out."
"What would I have to do?"
"Just sit still for about twenty minutes, link hands when we tell you, that sort of thing."
"Okay."
"Can't I be part of it?" asked Cordelia.
"Sure. It'll work best if it's Willow, Billie, and me in the main circle, but pretty well anyone who means Connor well can be in the outer circle. Let's see; you, Wes, Fred, Angel, Gunn, and Lorne? Umm.. six isn't a great number, seven would be better."
"Me or April?" asked Zap.
"After what happened when Rack tried to read April's mind I'm kinda cautious of involving either of you guys in magical rituals. Not until we've tried some very cautious tests, anyway. We can go with six if we have to, although seven would be best."
"Who was Rack and what happened to him?" asked Billie.
"When he read April's mind he started to try to think like a computer, in binary, human brains aren't really built to work that way."
"Ouch. Did he recover?"
"Someone killed him in the psycho ward at Sunnydale Hospital."
"You don't sound very unhappy about it. Who was he?"
"Rack was a... I suppose the best way to describe him is as a magical pusher. Willow was already badly addicted when she met him, but he's the one that really sent her over the edge."
"How bad was it," asked Billie, "as bad as Willow made it sound?"
"Worse. Even before that she was doing reckless things that hurt people, even tampering with people's memory, me included, to try to make us happy. We just couldn't trust her."
"But she's over it now?" asked Cordelia.
"We both think so, but to be on the safe side she's sticking to protective magic for now, and leaves anything more active to me. I can draw on her power if I have to, but that's risky for anything more complicated than the spell we'll be casting tonight. One of the ways you get addicted is to have the power without having to work for it, and that's what it'd be like for me. That, and there's a real chance I simply couldn't handle her mojo, keep it under control."
"She's that powerful?" asked Billie.
"Even now, when she's hardly using her magic, Willow's probably the most powerful Wicca in the USA, maybe the world. We met some guys that had a gizmo to detect and measure it, she went way off the scale."
"Okay," said Cordelia. "Let's not mess with Willow's mojo then. Works for me."
"You've got some serious mojo of your own," said Tara, "a lot more than when we met at Buffy's funeral, it kinda shows in your aura. What happened?"
"The visions were killing me. Literally, as in my brain was dying, a year of CAT scans and pain-killers and no sign of a cure. A couple of weeks ago I had a particularly bad attack that left me in my astral body, with the real body in a coma. A demon came to me while I was astral and offered me a chance to change things, turn back time so that I had never had the visions. I tried it, it was a good life for me but horrible for Angel and Wes. I couldn't let that happen, so I took the visions back. To keep me alive the demon guy cast a spell to make me part demon, strong enough to withstand them. I'm still waiting to see the down side, so far it's been all good."
"You're part demon?" asked Billie, "Does that mean you have.. oh.. horns or something?"
"God, I hope not." said Cordelia, cautiously touching her hair. "Nope, so far there's no sign of anything different, except I spontaneously levitated once. But I'm still afraid I'm gonna sprout a tail or grow scales or extra..." she noticed Zap listening with interest and said "...things."
"You'd be really cute with horns," said Lorne, "Some green would be nice too. Oh, if you're not going to use those fries I could cram them in."
Cordelia gave them to him. "Thanks, Lorne, I don't think so. Remember, I've seen what women from your dimension look like."
"Well, if your sole basis for comparison is my mother, what do you expect? We have cute females too. Just not in my family."
"Is that why you were so alarmed the other day when I mentioned your arms?" asked Billie.
"Yeah," said Cordelia, "I thought you'd seen something odd. Tara, if you can see my aura what does it tell you about me?"
"Let's see.." said Tara, "powerful, kind, brave, confident and you like chocolate."
"You're kidding."
"Actually I am, there's no way I'd know about the chocolate from your aura, Willow mentioned it. The rest is there. I can't see anything evil, if that's what's worrying you, there's kinda a bright centre to it I can't make out, but it looks right for you. In fact it's less complicated than most people's auras, it fits you really well."
"The demon I mentioned said something like that. Said my astral form was a lot more like my real body than most people."
"That'd follow, I guess."
"What about Holtz's aura?" asked Billie.
"Vengeance," said Tara, "it's devouring him, everything else seems to be secondary to that. But he's brave, passionate, and was probably a very good husband and father. Oh, and he's had some very powerful magic worked on him recently."
"You've seen Holtz?" asked Angel, coming in from somewhere behind the reception desk, wiping green goo from a sword. "When and where?"
"Is everyone okay?" interrupted Cordelia.
"They're fine, we saved the kid, they've just stopped off to get food. Should be here in a few minutes. When did you see Holtz?"
"About an hour ago," said Tara, "Billie and Zap and I went out to get some food, Holtz was there watching us when we came out of the restaurant. Talked to us for a couple of minutes, said we were being followed, then left."
"Who was following you? Apart from Holtz, of course."
"We don't know, but Zap saw them, he can give you pictures."
"You can draw them?"
"If I can use a computer I can download images," said Zap.
"Oh... right, I almost forgot."
"This way," said Cordelia, getting up. "Can you interface with a Mac?"
"No problemo."
"Let me guess, Xander showed you Terminator 2?"
"Affirmative," said Zap, in a perfect imitation of Arnold Schwartzenegger, grinning. He rummaged in his pockets, pulled out a small module and plugged it into the back of the computer, then leaned towards it.
"What's that?" asked Billie.
"Infra-red link, saves using cables. The computer should see it as a camera, download what I send it."
"Okay," said Cordelia. "Yeah, here we go. Five pictures, is that right?"
"Yes. The first one and the car I'm sure of, the other two people maybe fifty percent probability. The last one is Holtz. Right, upload complete."
"Okay. And print..." The inkjet began to whir, and in a couple of minutes they had five colour pictures.
"I think I recognise this guy," Angel said after looking at the printouts. "Not the one you're sure of, the one waiting at the bus stop reading a paper. He was one of the guards at a medical facility Wolfram and Hart used to run."
"What did they use it for?" asked Tara.
"Transplants. They were keeping people prisoner and stealing their organs. I kinda blew it up."
"I remember that," said Billie, "none of the people that escaped could say who owned it, or how they got out."
"It was Wolfram and Hart, I think they owned it and they certainly used it, although we couldn't prove it. One of their lawyers had a hand transplanted from one of the victims."
"I wonder if something like that is what they had planned for me," said Billie, shivering.
"Maybe," said Angel. "Assuming that the body they had didn't come close to matching Willow's genetic fingerprint, which we ought to check, my guess is that they wanted us to think that you weren't related, while they got someone prepped with a fake identity to be Willow's long-lost mom or something."
"How would they do that?"
"Could be transplants, could even be magical cloning. There are worse possibilities but I won't go into them."
"Might they still try them?"
"Not now you've met Willow. I don't think any sort of fake would fool her, not for long, and they know that if they've any sense."
"So why are they still following me?"
"That's a very good question. An even better one is why Holtz is so interested."
"He said something that made me think he was following Cordelia initially."
"Maybe," said Cordelia, "but I'm reasonably careful about that sort of thing, been kidnapped too many times."
"I wonder if Billie and Holtz could be related," said Tara.
"What?" said Angel.
"There's something about his aura, it's hard to describe, could be nothing to it but it reminded me a little of Willow. And since you're related it could be that you're some sort of distant family."
"He'd check, of course," mused Angel, "he'd want to know if there were any relatives still living."
"Still living?" asked Billie.
"I think this is where we have that conversation I promised, and I explain why Holtz wants to kill me."
"About time."
"In more ways than you think. Let's go into my office, I think everyone else knows most of it."
"I don't," said Zap.
"Me neither," said Tara, "heard some of it but I'd like to hear your version."
"Okay," said Angel, wearily, "is there anyone who doesn't want to hear this?"
"I'll pass," said Lorne.
"Me too," said Cordelia. "Heard it already. Take it into the office anyway, I want to clean up out here and I don't want you waking Connor with your yacking."
"Okay," said Billie, an hour later. "That's probably the ugliest story I've ever heard. I'm beginning to think Holtz is right to want to kill you."
"If it were just me you'd probably be right," said Angel, "but everything we know says that there is some sort of major mystical event hinging on this, a decisive event in the war between good and evil. I'm needed for it, so is Connor, so is Holtz."
"But you don't know which side either of you will be on?"
"I'm hoping I'm on the side of good," said Angel, "but this one is turning out to be unusually cryptic even by the standards of prophecy. Wes is still working on it, for all I know I'm about to lose my soul and join the forces of darkness, but I don't think it's likely. Whatever, Connor is probably the key to it, Holtz and I are just caught up in events."
"It's more than that," said Tara, "someone used a massively powerful spell to bring Holtz to the twentieth century. You may not know what's going on, but someone does. I think it's the guy Billie mentioned, the voice she heard when she was trapped in the car. Someone who really doesn't care about anything else except ensuring that Holtz takes his vengeance."
"So Holtz is a pawn?" mused Angel, sounding pleased with the prospect. "That could make a lot of sense, except why would anyone with that much power have to work so indirectly?"
"What do you think, Zap? You've kept very quiet."
"I think we need Willow for this. I'm just a machine, and I'm pretty sure my builders didn't know anything about this stuff."
"Who are your builders anyway?" asked Angel. "Japanese? Korean? Some sort of high-tech demons or magicians?"
"Sorry; that's something I'm not prepared to discuss until Willow says it's okay."
"Where is Willow anyway?" asked Tara, "I expected her to be back by now."
"I'll check... yes, April says they'll be back any minute, they're just parking."
"Radio?" asked Angel.
"That's right."
"Handy."
"We think so."
"I think we're done here for now," said Billie, "although I think it might be a good idea to get Willow in on this, see if she has any ideas about Holtz."
Outside they heard voices, and Angel said "she's back. Let's see if she can tell us anything new."
"I hope so," said Tara, "it's kinda embarrassing not being able to tell you everything."
"So let me get this straight," said Angel, "Your parents were aliens?"
"Adopted parents," said Willow, "and is it that much weirder than vampires and demons? Look, if you want proof maybe David can convince you."
"It's quite true," said David Nabbit, who had arrived with Willow. "I've known for a couple of years now, my companies are one of the outlets used to get alien technology into use on Earth."
"You've kept that pretty quiet," said Cordelia, "here was I thinking you're a self-made nerd."
"Oh, I am. I was only let in on it after my company became one of the established technological leaders, and the main condition was that I'd never tell anyone."
"So why are you telling us?" asked Billie.
"Because there would be too many unanswered questions if we didn't," said Willow, "and I finally persuaded the MIB guys that if I didn't have some trustworthy friends in on the facts it wouldn't work. Over the next couple of years you're gonna see me gradually become a major player in industry and technological investment, it's the only way to explain the fortune I'm inheriting. It'll begin with David announcing some patents I'm selling him and snowball from there."
"But it'll actually be alien technology?" asked Gunn.
"Sure," said Nabbit, "about one patent in ten these days is actually that sort of deal, the only difference here is that I'm paying Willow for the science instead of MIB or some alien inventor."
"Actually," said Willow, "my technological investments will mostly be in real research, not cover for imports. Can't think of a better way to use the money."
"What happens if we aren't trustworthy?" asked Wesley.
"They wipe your memories," said Willow, "cover up anything you've done to reveal the truth, and fine me a few million dollars for my error in judgement."
"So we'd better not blab," said Gunn, "wouldn't want you out of pocket."
"Like I care," said Willow. "I'd love to do this without the secrecy, but they've proved to me that people just aren't ready to face the facts, same as when they run into demons."
"What about the supermarket tabloids," asked Billie, "why are they allowed to reveal the truth? Why shouldn't every paper carry these stories?"
"They're allowed precisely because nobody takes them seriously. By telling the truth in a way that won't be believed they provide an escape valve, a way for ideas to get to the public without scaring them."
"And if I go in to the Trib on Monday and write up this story?"
"It doesn't get published," said Nabbit, "you lose a few memories, so does everyone else you tell about it, and Willow has to find another explanation for her wealth."
"I could have lied from the start," said Willow, "but I'm a lousy liar, the truth seemed the best way to go, at least with my family and trustworthy friends. Please don't prove me wrong."
"I suppose this explains April and Zap," said Angel.
"Not exactly. April really was built on Earth, she's entirely home-grown technology. Zap's an alien robot that Sheila had built to bodyguard me, wearing a disguise that's normally used by aliens visiting Earth."
"He explained about Tom and Zap," said Billie. "So what does the real Zap look like?"
"You really want to know?" asked Zap.
"Please."
"It's kinda odd," said Willow.
His face opened, revealing a tiny control room. Inside it was a small grey kitten, which waved a paw at them then pressed a lever on one of the consoles that surrounded it. The face closed again.
"A kitten?" said Cordelia.
"Sheila thought he'd be inconspicuous."
"And that's a... a bodyguard?" asked Wesley.
"Zap's got more firepower than Dirty Harry," said Tara, "not to mention claws and teth that can cut through anything and near-perfect camouflage."
"Plus I'm cute," said Zap.
"And modest," added April, kissing his cheek.
"That's just... weird," said Gunn.
"Yep," said Willow. "Now imagine what the aliens that built him can do when they want to build a big combat machine, and you'll know why we really don't want to annoy them by having their tourists bothered on Earth."
"If you hadn't told me I wouldn't have known," said Angel. "He looks right, even smells right and sounds right. I spotted April fairly easily, there's no heartbeat and you can hear the motors and gyros if you listen hard enough, but Zap's perfect."
"We'll have to see about a heartbeat for April, hadn't thought of that one. Okay, can everyone live without going public on this?"
There was a slow chorus of assent.
"Okay, you now know the biggest secret in Earth's history, not that it'll do you any good. Hey, it's getting dark. David, do you have to leave in a hurry?"
"Not really, why?"
"Angel, would you describe David as a friend?"
"I guess."
"Okay. David, how do you like the idea of being a fairy godfather?"
"...Tyche, Fortuna, guardians of luck, aid this child. In these names, and in the name of the Goddess, so mote it be!"
Willow, Tara, and Billie stood in the garden with linked hands, forming a circle around Connor. Around them Angel, Cordelia, Lorne, Fred, Gunn, Nabbit, and Wesley made a larger circle. Lines of coloured sand marked out a complex pattern. As Tara said the last word a golden glow seemed to rise from the ground around them, brightening as it drew in around Connor then slowly fading away. There was a faint smell, vaguely like eucalyptus, which gradually vanished.
"That's it, folks," said Willow, breaking the circle. "Show's over. Consider this baby blessed." She picked up Connor, who smiled sleepily at her.
"Wow," said Fred, "that was awesome."
"I think it went pretty well," said Tara. "Don't know quite how much difference we've made but it ought to help, can't do any harm."
"Thank you," said Angel, "I have a feeling it's going to help a lot."
"Real magic," said Nabbit, smiling broadly. "I've played Dungeons and Dragons, but that was the real thing."
"Billie?" asked Willow, noticing that she was still standing in the same place, "Are you okay?"
"I think so.. it's just.. I felt that, like electricity running through me. It's strange, I didn't think it would be like that."
"You're a sensitive," said Willow, "from the moment we met I knew you had a lot of empathy and intuition, I think with the right training you could probably kick mystical ass. I must get it from your side of the family."
"I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that idea. I've always gone by the facts and the evidence, not intuition."
"Then it's probably best you stay that way," Tara said firmly. "Don't let Willow con you into thinking magic's your mystic destiny or something, it's perfectly okay to leave it alone."
"Sure," said Willow, "didn't mean it that way, it's just... interesting."
"It is that," said Billie, "but I don't think it's for me. I really ought to think about getting home, get some rest and come back here tomorrow."
"Why not stay here for tonight and save the commute?" suggested Angel.
"I really don't want to impose, and I don't have any night clothes with me."
"It's no imposition, I'm pretty sure that Cordy will be able to find clothes for you somewhere, and it'll let you spend a lot more time with Willow."
"Plus he wants to pump you for anything else you can remember about Holtz," said Cordelia.
"Okay," said Billie, after giving it a moment's thought. "I'd better phone the security guys and tell them what I'm doing, or they'll get worried."
"I'll find the clothes," said Cordelia, taking Connor from Willow, "you're about the same size as that telekinetic girl that stayed with us last year, maybe a slightly lighter build, and we bought her some pyjamas that were never used. And you'll need a toothbrush and paste, towels..." She went inside and the others followed.
To Be Continued