What The Hell Is Going On?
Buffy just stands there for a moment starring at the woman who looks like her mother. She knows it can't be her mother though. Her mother is dead.
Buffy mom looks at her with great confusion on her face, "Buffy what is it? What's wrong?"
Buffy's face immediately turns from shocked to extremely angry, "What the hell do you think your trying to pull? I know this trick remember? Now get out!"
"What are you talking about Buffy? And don't you dare talk to your mother that way young lady. Now get dressed and get to school," her mother said with a disappointed look on her face.
Buffy was still very upset. She know that the First was low enough to appear as her and remind her every time that she has died but she had always hoped that it wouldn't use her mother to taunt her. She had to fight back the tears of seeing this image of her mother that she knew was evil. And it still wasn't giving up either. Why was the First doing this? What was the point? She tried to put on a good face so that she could show the First that this wasn't bothering her. She looked it in the eyes and said, "Fine…you wanna play this game. Go ahead, but I'm telling you right now…it doesn't bother me one bit." Buffy stormed out of the room.
Joyce looked very confused and annoyed with her daughter now. She stormed out the door after her and grabbed her shoulder and turned her around. "Now you listen to me young lady I don't know what your problem is but will not talk to me like that and you are going to tell me what the hell is going on right now," she said with a fierce face.
Buffy turned around looking very angry about to yell some extreme words at the First evil imitating her mother when she realized, she had just touched her. The First could take the form of the dead but it couldn't touch anything and her mother had just firmly grabbed her shoulder. She looked into her mother's eyes. It was her. It was really her mother, she could tell. She just looked at her. She didn't know what to say. She didn't understand what was going on.
Joyce, still looking quite annoyed, said, "Well? Say something Buffy. What is going on with you this morning?"
"That's a good question," Buffy said as tears started to appear in her eyes. She hugged her mother tightly as tears began to run down her face, "Mom? It's really you. God I missed you so much."
Joyce hugged her back with a smile. She was very confused but Buffy didn't hug her often so she thought she would just enjoy it for a second and then find out what was going on. When they pulled away from their embrace Joyce looked at Buffy and asked, "Buffy…what's going on? You just saw me last night…remember…before you went to bed? I never knew 8 hours was a long enough time to miss someone so much."
Now Buffy was also looking confused, "last night?" she asked. "I saw you last night?"
"Ok now you're just creeping me out honey. What is wrong with you?" her mother asked.
Buffy tried to go over everything that had happened last night and this morning in her head. She had no idea what was going on, "I have no idea." She remembered something about when she woke up. Her mother had told her to get up for school. She looked at her mother and asked, "School? You told me to get up for school."
Joyce looked at her watch with shock, "specking of…you're going to be late. We can talk about this on the way when I drop you off. Now go get dressed." She started to walk downstairs.
Buffy stopped her, "wait mom…school? What school?"
"Very funny young lady. High school remember? Your final year that you have to actually attend to graduate," Joyce said.
Buffy was still very confused but she was starting to figure at least one thing out…where she was. "What year is it?" she asked.
"What? Its 1999 you know that. Now get dressed…quickly," Joyce said as she looked at her watch with worry.
"1999?" she said to herself as her mother went downstairs. She was still very confused. She guessed that somehow she must have traveled back in time or something. She just didn't know how or why. "Giles!" She ran to her room and got dressed as fast as she could. She knew that Giles would be the school librarian still so all she could think of right now was to get to school and see Giles. If anyone could figure out what was going on Giles could.
When she finished getting dressed she ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Everything looked the same but different. The whole house had the mom touch that Buffy had missed so much during the past two years. When she got to the kitchen she saw her mom making her a quick breakfast. She could help but smile. Whatever was happening was driving her crazy because she didn't understand it but when she saw her mother all of that confusion went away. She didn't realize just how much she had missed her. It had been such a long time and seeing her again made her so happy.
When Joyce turned around she saw Buffy standing there, "oh good your ready. I made you bagel but you're going to have to eat it on the way. Now let's go we're already running late as it is."
Buffy smiled and walked to her mother and gave her another giant hug. "I love you mom. I just wanted you to know that," she said as she pulled away from their embrace. She grabbed her bagel and walked towards the door, "ok…I'm ready."
Her mother stood there for a second looking confused but happy. "Such a strange girl," she said to herself as she walked out the door behind Buffy.
When Buffy got to school she said goodbye to her mother and gave her a kiss on the check. During the car ride there her mother had asked her what was going on this morning. She asked why Buffy was acting so weird. Buffy thought it might be best if she doesn't worry her mom right now so she just told her that she had a weird dream that confused her when she woke up. She told her she would tell her about it later.
When she got out of the car she went strait for the library. It was so weird being back in the old school. She remembered where everything was as if she had just been there yesterday. She even remembered her locker combination which was irrelevant of course but still cool.
When she got to the doors of the library so many memories came flooding back. The time they destroyed the master in that very library, the time she found Kendra dead and was almost arrested, all of the vigorous training that was done with Giles. A lot of things had happened in that old library.
She walked through the doors to see Giles and Wesley arguing about something as they always were. "Oh boy," she said to herself. She had forgotten that Wesley would be here. Seeing him there also made her realize that this must be towards the end of the school year because if it were the beginning Wes wouldn't be there.
She walked into the library far enough for them to acknowledge that she was there. Giles saw her first, "oh hello Buffy. How did patrolling go last night?"
Before Buffy could say a word Wesley chimed in, "Excuse me have you forgotten that I am her watcher? You are merely her librarian. I will ask the questions involving the slaying." They both looked at him waiting to hear what else he had to say. "Right then…hello Buffy. How was patrolling?" he asked.
Buffy just smiled and shock her head. It was the same old Wes, always trying to be in control when he really has no idea what he's doing. "That's a good question," Buffy said, "only problem is…I have no idea what the answer is."
The two watchers looked at her with confusion. Giles stood up, "what do you mean? Is everything alright?"
Buffy started to try and explain, "Well…not exactly. I'm not who you think I am. I mean I'm still me, I'm still Buffy, I'm just not this Buffy." Both watchers still looked extremely confused. Buffy tried to start again, "I'm not from this time. I'm 22 years old not 18. I'm from four years from now." She still got no reaction from the confused men. "This is going to be harder to explain then I thought."
To be continued…
