g120-thanks for review and yes of course there would be an chrimbo ep at midsummer. It's like a halfway-to-christmas celebration. plus it fit in the timeline...haha
zigpal- yes everyone seems to be commenting on this christmas in june deal. haha. Loved my pressy tho :-D. haha. Glad you liked the Christmas sceneyness.
Rabidreject- Aah, I love your complimentary words like wow and outstanding. They give me such a happy. :-D. haha. Glad you thought this chapter was fun- something that you say's missing from other fanfics so even more woo and hoo there hehe- and that you enjoyed it. Thank you.:-)
Well, tis a bit episode centric this...mainly because well, Giles was off galavanting in England...
"I know…" Buffy agreed as she and Giles stood in the training room after…well, training, "It's just I trust these Watchers as far as…. you could throw them"
"Ditto," Buffy looked up to see her Mother in the doorway. She should technically be at the Gallery but as Giles was going to England the very next day she'd decided to take some time off for the day. Buffy wasn't sure whether this was a good thing or a bad thing- she loved her Mom, but sometimes it seemed like she was in her life too much. Yet, after the recent scare Buffy felt she should appreciate any time she had with her Mom and so she didn't say anything about how Joyce was spending her spare time.
"I'm just freaked that they could get any information that might lead to Dawn…" Buffy added worriedly and she sat down on the bench, her head in her hands. Giles and Joyce came to sit down on either side of her.
"Personally I don't think they're bright enough to make that connection," Joyce joked.
"Truly, Buffy, if there was an alternative," Giles added, "If, if the Initiative were still around, I'd consider using them, but they're gone…and then uh, Riley, was uh the last link…we had to the government…" He looked at Buffy's sad expression, "I'm sorry, I didn't meant to-"
"No it's okay," Buffy assured him as her Mom put her arm around her supportively- giving her a hug when she knew she needed one, "You can say his name"
"You're a strong girl Buffy," Her Mom told her, "You'll get through this. I know you will."
"I know," Buffy agreed, visibly putting on a brave face, "I mean these things happen, right?"
"Afraid so," Giles admitted.
"I mean two people who can seem very right for each other at the time just eventually take different paths," Joyce told comfortingly, "Everything happens for a reason and maybe you and Riley had just…"
"Got as much as we could from each other?" Buffy smiled weakly, "I wanna believe that. I really do. Coz that would mean I was free to move on. Be free Buffy. But it doesn't feel like it was"
"Well, maybe," Giles suggested, "That's why things happened as they did."
"Yeah," Joyce agreed, "You went your separate ways before it got to the horrible painful part of erm, well…not being able to stand the sight of one another really"
Buffy nodded in quiet acceptance, knowing they had a point and what they said made sense. She then frowned in puzzlement, before looking at them both.
"Okay can you two stop being my parents? It's really freaky," She jumped up from her seat between them to look back at the couple. Her Mother looked slightly confused and a little hurt and Buffy hurried to allay her concerns "Well not so freaky in your case because, well, you are my Mom but…" She walked over to the door.
"I don't know whether to be insulted or complimented by that exchange," Giles commented lightly to Joyce.
"Well," Buffy said turning back to them, "If your going to England Giles helps us find more information about Glory…. then I'm thrilled to have you gone"
"You're going away for a week?" Anya squealed excitedly, "That's great!"
"Yes," Giles agreed sardonically, "Everybody seems delighted about it"
"I'm not," Joyce told him honestly.
"Well, why aren't you going with him?" Willow inquired with a smile, "Like a trip? Do the couple thing again"
"Yeah," Tara agreed, "A trip to England would be so exotic…" She trailed off as she glanced at Giles in realization, "Unless of course you're English…"
"Yes, exotic," Joyce agreed with a chipper nod before adding, "And then they try to kill you"
"Uh, yes," Giles agreed, looking to the whole group, "Considering the events of the, ah, previous trip, Joyce won't be accompanying me on this trip for…well, for safety actually" He admitted.
"I get to take care of the store right?" Anya checked eagerly and Giles looked completely alarmed by the prospect.
"You? Ah, w-well, it's quite a lot for one person to take care of. Well, I-I mean, the trash men, for example, I mean, they, they, they've been making such a mess in the back alley, the recycling people can't get in there to collect. Well, somebody has to talk to them."
"Look, don't worry about the shop," Buffy assured him, "We'll take care of it. We can open and close, we'll deal with everyone"
"We can come by in between classes!" Willow told Giles enthusiastically, "Usually I use that time to copy over my class notes with a system of different colored pens but I've been told that's you know…insane"
"I said 'quirky'" Tara corrected her with a smile.
"Hello!" Anya yelled at Buffy and Willow, looking extremely annoyed, "I work here! I can take care of everything!"
"Yeah, Anya can do it," Xander assured him, but didn't even look up from the book he was reading.
"Thanks sweetie," Anya patted Xander on the shoulder kindly, "Well said"
"Um, Anya," Giles tried to think of a way to say what needed to be said without hurting Anya's feelings which, considering she was an ex-demon, were very sensitive, "While I completely trust you to uh, uh, to take care of the inventory and the um, money…dealing with people requires a certain…uh, finesse"
"I have finesse!" Anya insisted, "I have finesse coming out of my bottom! I can completely lie to health inspector. I can, you know, distract him with coy smiles and, and bribe him with money and goods"
"See there? She'll be great," Xander, yet again, did not look up from the book he was reading.
"Don't worry Giles," Willow said confidently, "I'll help her take care of everything. It'll be ship-shape, better yet, it'll be shop-shape." She smiled brightly while Anya just sat there frowning in disapproval.
"Xander, she's talking to Giles like I'm not here. Make her stop"
Giles tuned out of the argument and turned to Joyce, saying thoughtfully:
"Maybe I'd better call the airline…schedule an earlier flight back…"
Joyce looked back at Willow hitting Xander on the arm, encouraging him to tell Anya off.
"That might be a good idea," Joyce told him, "But I'll, erm, I'll check up on them. I'll come by everyday when I've finished at the gallery…you know, just to make sure," She assured him, "But I'm sure there's nothing to be worried about"
"No, everything's been fine, just like I told you it would be," Joyce said over her cell phone as she parked her car on the street and got out, closing and locking the door one-handedly as her other hand held the phone to her ear. "Mm-hm. Just a little arguing between them is all, but nothing major really…I miss you too. The Council not being too deathly violent I hope?" She asked Giles on the other end casually as she walked up the street, "Good. So found out anything at all yet?" She waited for his answer, "I should be surprised but you know…I'm not. You'd think they have something though," Giles then inevitably returned the conversation back to the subject of the Magic Box and she was glad he couldn't see her roll her eyes, "What did I tell you? Everything's fine. I'm even walking up to it now. Everything's going great. Not a single-" She reached the shop door or at least where the shop door used to be. The remains of it were smashed and lay about on the floor at the front of the store and the entire shop seemed to be destroyed and smashed to pieces. Willow and Anya were stood behind the counter together looking very shocked but also very angry at each other, "hitch…." Joyce trailed off as the phrase Famous Last Words came to mind, "I gotta go" She cut off Giles' "Joyce-" by pressing end call abruptly as she stepped into the store slowly as she inspected the mess with her mouth open in disbelief.
"I may be wrong…" She said slowly as she headed over to the counter and the two girls, carefully stepping over the pieces of wood and debris, "but the store doesn't usually look like this…. what happened?"
"Willow did something wrong," Anya explained simply and Willow turned to look at her angrily.
"What?! It was your damn nattering that interrupted the spell!"
"Well, I wouldn't have had to have interrupted if you hadn't been stealing the merchandise!"
"I wasn't stealing! God, lay off will you?"
"Plus, you should be prepared for a spell like that. You don't even know what you're doing half the time do you?"
"Willow! Anya!" The two girls jumped at the sound of their names being shouted and looked at Joyce in silence as she asked them calmly, "Now I will ask again…what happened?"
The two girls looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Joyce with guilty expressions.
"Yeah, hi, Carole?" Joyce greeted as someone picked up the phone in the office at the gallery. She was on her cell again as she drove Anya and Willow, who were in the back seat, to follow the trail of the troll they had both released loose on Sunnydale through their combined efforts of arguing. For a moment Joyce contemplated the fact this was some abnormal level of normalcy for her now, before returning her attention back to the phone call, "Yeah, I'm not gonna be able to make it back in this afternoon. Why?" Joyce repeated her friend's question, "Because, because…" What the hell was she supposed to say? "Because there was…a burglary! Yes, yes, at the store. A burglary…. so…you're sure? Thank you." She hung up; relieved her colleague had believed her.
"Stop it! You've got the wrong sheets!" Anya whined.
"Would you stop that?" Willow asked her desperately, "You're so distracting and annoying. Just let me do my work"
"Yeah, well you were the one that messed up…" Anya reasoned.
"I didn't mess up! I was doing fine and then you messed it up for me!"
"No, the whole troll-release thing was what you did!"
"I did?!" Willow questioned incredulously as she continued rifling through the papers, "No it was definitely a we thing…or a you thing. It definitely feels like a you thing!"
"How could it be? I wasn't even casting the spell!"
"You two just be quiet!" Joyce put on her Mom Voice and the two fell silent, feeling like they were two naughty kids being told off by a parent for messing on the neighbour's lawn, "Now stop arguing about who made it happen and find a way together to send whatever it is you both summoned, back wherever the hell it came from, okay?" The two remained silent and Joyce pulled her eyes away from the road for a moment to look back at the two of them "Okay?"
"Fine" Anya grumbled.
"No problem. I can do that." Willow told Joyce with a smile, trying to prove to Anya childishly that she was the more mature one.
"The Bronze," Willow murmured as they all rushed out of Joyce's car, having followed the Troll's path all the way here, "Of course. It's always The Bronze"
"He's probably destroying the premises," Anya stated, "Eating a few customers. And it's all-" Anya trailed off from what she was about to say as Joyce shot her a steely glare.
They walked through the door of the Bronze to see the troll stood in the middle of the room for all to see, and they looked to see Spike and Xander heading over.
"Anya and Willow stood side by side," Xander commented before pointing at Joyce, "And you're here. This can only mean one thing," He turned around to jab a finger in the direction of the troll, "One of you is responsible for that"
"Since when did I become the symbol of disastrous happenings?" Joyce questioned him, sounding offended.
"Oh you're not," Xander told her simple, "You're the symbol that somebody else is." At this he turned to look at Willow and Anya pointed and they both barely caught his eye as they sheepishly returned to looking at the spell book in Willow's hands.
"I wish Buffy were here," Willow said worriedly as she flipped the pages and at that exact moment Tara and Buffy walked in through the door behind them.
"Hey" Buffy greeted them all, before looking over at the monstrosity in the room, "Huh. Troll."
"I wish I had a million dollars," Willow smiled and as everyone looked at her she shrugged, "Just checking"
"What's going on?" Buffy asked, looking at the troll, "Where'd he come from?"
"Please don't ask that question," Joyce begged her, knowing it would only spark another argument between Anya and Willow.
"Hello Buffy…" Spike said in a nervous tone akin to Giles and both Buffy and Joyce looked over at him surprise, but Buffy looked uninterested and confused while Joyce looked confused but intrigued.
"So who did this?"
"It-" Willow looked over at Joyce, "It's, uh, very complex"
"But we can fix it," Anya assured Buffy, "Willow say the spell"
"Uh, let the conjuring-"
"STOP!" The troll bellowed and Willow stomped her foot in frustration.
"No one let's me finish!"
"You told the witch to do that Anyanka," The troll spoke directly to Anya and she looked alarmed at being addressed by him, "You seem determined to put an end to all my fun! Just like you always did when we were dating!"
Everyone spun around to stare at Anya in confusion as she stood there looking aghast at the troll. She remembered who he was now…Olaf.
"You dated him?" Xander asked in disgust.
"You dated a troll?" Both Buffy and Joyce asked in synchronization, as they looked at Anya in sheer disbelief.
"And we're what? Surprised by this?" Willow asked them, always prepared never to be surprised by Anya and her life.
"Well, he wasn't a troll then," Anya defended herself, "You know he was just a big dumb guy…and well, you know he cheated on me…"
"So you…turned him…into a…troll?" Joyce asked slowly, not quite believing what she was asking. Anya shrugged.
"It was actually…." She looked embarrassed, "How I got the job as a Vengeance Demon"
"I did not cheat!" Olaf protested, "Not in my heart. It was only one wench! I, I had had a great deal of mead! Next thing I know I'm a troll! You did this Anyanka! You will die for this!" Olaf roared loudly in anger and smashed one of the tables with his hammer and the group winced in shock.
"But you seem to enjoy the...uh, the being a troll" Xander pointed out weakly.
Olaf paused in his tirade to shrug in acceptance.
"I adjusted and then what happened? Witches." He gestured accusingly with his hammer at both Willow and Joyce as the two looked over the spell book for a way to get rid of him and Joyce looked over at Olaf in surprise.
"What? Me? I'm not-"
"She's not a witch." Buffy told him confidently, "Really not" The troll seemed to have heavily negative feelings towards witches and while Willow was fairly able to defend herself, magickally at least, her Mother wasn't and so Buffy rushed to clear up the situation.
"It does not matter- she works with the witch." Olaf pointed out, "So she must die also. As will you."
Buffy looked at Willow in panic
"Will, the spell again. Please"
"Oh, uh," Willow looked down at the spell book and read aloud, "Let the conjuring be undone! Return the beast to native form! Keep it far from us and ours as long as my voice shall sound!"
The group waited expectantly but nothing happened.
"Haha!" Olaf laughed loudly, "It did not work!"
"You must have said it wrong," Anya told her and Willow threw her a dirty look.
"I didn't say it wrong!" She insisted, aggravated by Anya's tone.
Olaf lunged forward to attack Willow but Buffy jumped in front and delivered a sharp and powerful kick to his chest. She drove him back with punch after kick after punch after kick and Joyce raised an eyebrow in question as she saw Spike run up behind Buffy to help. Considering he claimed to want her daughter dead on a regular basis, this was an extremely odd occurrence.
While Buffy tried to beat down Olaf, the troll kept fighting successfully back and he used his hammer to smash away the pillars holding up the second floor of the Bronze.
Xander protectively put his arms around Anya as they cowered in the corner as the Bronze started to shake, pieces of debris starting to fall around them.
Willow and Joyce hurried over to a more sheltered place as though it were a normal Californian earthquake rather than a giant troll destroying the club.
Suddenly the entire upper level of the Bronze came crashing down, the railings viciously swinging at the customers. Some of the clubbers who had been on the upper level tried to hold on, swinging wildly, before their grip slipped and they crashed to the floor among the other injured people. Buffy barely had time to cover her head with her arms protectively before a huge piece of the Bronze came tumbling down on top of her heavily, knocking and pinning her to the floor.
"Willow? Are you alright?" Joyce asked as the dust from the collapse cleared. A large beam now blocked the alcove they had been stood in and the two would have to climb over it to get out.
"Yeah, I'm," She coughed, "I'm fine," She coughed again, waving the dust away. "How about you?"
"I'm okay," Joyce, told her, before turning to look at the beam that blocked their path.
"We're gonna have to climb over," Willow summarised, pushing Joyce in front of her, "You first"
Joyce nodded in acceptance and pressed her right hand against the wall to balance herself. However the moment she did, a shooting pain shot up her arm and she immediately pulled it away, holding it in her other arm. If she had to guess, she'd say she had sprained her wrist. Looking at the bruising and swollenness she thought it was very probably, "Okay, maybe not completely okay," She admitted, "Why is it always my arm?" She questioned no one in particular in exasperation, before sighing in acceptance and using her other arm to keep her balance, hopped over the beam, followed quickly by Willow.
"Mom, Will," Buffy ran over to them, wiping dust off herself from where the upper floor of the Bronze had landed on her. "Where'd he go?" She asked, but before they could answer, she noticed her Mom was favoring her right wrist. "What happened to your hand?"
"It's nothing…. much." Joyce told her feeling very much like she was playing in a role reversal. She didn't like it. "I uh I think the troll left"
"Yeah," Willow nodded in agreement, "Trashed the place and left. Just your average day in Sunnydale"
"Right," Buffy nodded, a plan already forming in her mind. She turned to Xander, "Xander, follow him. Anya, Willow- go to the magic shop, find a spell that will actually stop him" She looked around at all the victims on the floor, "Mom, Tara- take care of…well everything here. I'll erm…" She seemed to debate for a moment about whether to stay and help at the Bronze or to go along with Xander. She chose the latter, "I'll follow with Xander"
As the rest of the group left, both Joyce and Tara helped the victims they could along with the help of the few people who had escaped unharmed. Emergency Services had already been called and help was on its way.
Spike carefully tended to a woman who had been trapped under the fallen floor, placing some soft material under her head to make her more comfortable. He didn't know whether Buffy was in the building to see him anymore or not, but if she wasn't, he was hoping word of his good deeds would reach her.
"N-not that it's a bad thing…but why are y-you doing that?"
Spike looked up to see Tara there, watching him intently.
"Just making the girl warm is all" He said simply and Tara nodded, but an inquisitive frown lined her forehead.
"But you've never done it before," The look on her face now Spike could only describe as 'knowing'.
"I, well, she-"
"Are you doing it because of Buffy?" Spike looked in the direction of the question and saw Joyce stood on the other side of him. The look on her face was similar to Tara's though it held a touch of concern. Spike exhaled in annoyance and frustration as he stood up and looked at the two women on either side of him.
"What the bloody hell is this? Spanish bleedin' Inquisition? I was just helping out for a change all right? Nothing more to it." He stormed off, "Jesus…"
Tara and Joyce shared a look that clearly said that they both knew there was something more to it but weren't quite sure what.
"That's it," Joyce announced as Giles helped carry in the tray which held teapot and cups over to the dining room table. "No more trips to England for you." She looked down at her right wrist briefly. It was only a sprain and hadn't been badly hurt, but it was bandaged, "Whether I come with you or not- I get hurt"
"Yes," Giles agreed sincerely with concern in his voice, "I dread to think what would have happened if I'd have stayed away longer," He and Joyce took a seat at the table where Buffy was already sat.
"Well…" Buffy struggled to think of a more positive scenario, "We would have had time to clear up all the evidence and you could have lived in blissful ignorance"
"I have seen the state of the shop Buffy," Giles told her as he poured himself a cup of tea, "I doubt you would have cleared it up in time"
"Well, Willow could have used magicks…." Buffy suggested and Giles rolled his eyes.
"Yes, because we always know that to be a success,"
"So," Buffy said, clearing her throat to change topic, "You were saying about how the Council knew a big fat lot of nothing?"
"Oh, erm, yes," Giles nodded, putting his cup of tea down on the table after taking a sip. "Well, they don't know anything yet…but they're going to look into it. So…"
"Just as long as they don't find out…" Joyce sighed as she thought over everything once again, "It's just- I don't want anything leading them to Dawn"
"Well considering a lot of their theories so far seem to be nonsensical the chances are very low"
"But what would they do if they found out?" Buffy asked insistently, "What would they do?"
Giles didn't have an answer.
"I don't know. I really don't know"
The three were oblivious to Dawn listening in on the stairs.