Zigpal- Thanks for review, knew you'd like the Gunn choicage, but re Dawnie, Dawn already knows she's pregnant- she was at the dressmakers when Joyce slipped up. And well…the 'Lily' vision is going to have complications in this chapter and in season six. And yay- my claps are back! Hehe.
g120- thanks and yeah- I just thought Spike's Forever gesture was just so sweet that I wanted to keep it in someway. Sorry about the flashforwards etc, but take heart I don't think I'll be flashing forward again or anything. At least I don't plan to. Hehe and glad you liked how Will reacted hehe.
Rabidreject- thanks for review and yah, Angel can be very broodilicious
Just over six weeks ago she had found out, or rather figured out, she was pregnant. Three weeks ago she'd been wearing her wedding dress. So much could happen in a short space of time, so much had.
Standing in front of the full length, she began the age-old habit, of looking her reflection up and down the moment she got up. It was a bad habit that she desperately needed to kick as it more often than not ended up with her tearing herself apart.
Today though, she wasn't feeling too critical. Despite her recent odd sleeping patterns including the sleeping in late, there wasn't a single bag under her eyes and she didn't look tired at all. And she looked healthier than she had in a long time- ah, the upside of the pregnancy glow.
Instinctively, she lifted the bottom of her pyjama top slightly, so her stomach was bare. At barely over six weeks, the bump was hardly noticeable to the naked eye, but it was definitely growing. To someone who didn't know it would seem as though she had just put on a little weight. But running her hand over her stomach, the miniature bump had a firmness that excess weight didn't have, it had shape and she could feel it as she ran her bare palm over it.
Walking into the kitchen, Joyce saw that the breakfast-making ceremony was in full swing. Conscious that everyone else was fully dressed, she pulled her nightgown tighter around her.
"Hey Mom," Buffy greeted her when she caught sight of her in the kitchen doorway, "Toast?"
Joyce shook her head, the thought of eating any food at all presently making her very not well.
"How about bacon?" Dawn offered as Giles walked over to Joyce, just thinking her Mom said no because she didn't feel like toast, "We have bacon"
"God no," Joyce grimaced, "No bacon"
"Are you okay?" Giles asked as he reached her, looking at her in concern.
"No I'm fine," She assured him, "Just normal pregnancy symptoms. Perfectly normal, no need to worry," She started to shove him away, "But please stand over there- your aftershave's making me kinda nauseous,"
Buffy bit back a laugh at the confusedly hurt expression on Giles' face. He clearly had no idea what to expect on the pregnant woman front.
"I wouldn't say no to fruit juice though," Joyce said as she took a seat at the island, "If anyone is in pamper Mom mode"
"Ooh! I am!" Dawn said enthusiastically but before she could make any moves to pour the drink Buffy swooped him.
"Be that as it may I think we can do without Dawn wreckage this morning," Buffy stated, grabbing the juice carton herself, ignoring Dawn's sulk.
"I'm okay now," Joyce told Giles as she took the glass of juice Buffy offered her, "It was just that first smell of your aftershave- kinda sent me a little-"
"Vomitateous?" Dawn supplied a made-up word.
"Unwell," Joyce corrected, smiling at Dawn patiently, before looking back at Giles, "You can come over here now," She told him and relieved he walked over and immediately started fussing over her.
Buffy watched the scene and found herself smiling as she watched Giles kiss her Mom's cheek before fussing over her some more. It was so affectionate, and it looked sweet between them, but the thought of being that affectionate with someone kinda freaked Buffy out a little.
And that thought played on her mind.
"I wanna cool it on the slay-training front. For a bit."
"But you were doing so well," Giles reasoned.
"A-and you were great," Buffy agreed, "helping me with everything. I'm just starting to feel uneasy about stuff"
"Stuff?" Giles repeated in question as the two of them sat down on the sofa.
"Training. Slaying. All of it," Buffy told him, "It's just…I mean I can beat up the demons till the cows come home…and then I can beat up the cows…but I'm not sure I like what it's doing to me"
"But you've mastered so much," Giles appealed, "I mean your strength and resilience alone-"
"Yeah," Buffy nodded, "Strength, resilience…those are all words for hardness. I'm starting to feel like being the Slayer is turning me into stone"
"Turning you into stone?" He repeated in disbelief, "Buffy-"
"Just think about it," She told him, standing up to pace, "I was never there for Riley. Not like I was for Angel. I've been terrible to Dawn…and, like I saw you and Mom this morning and that kind of intimacy…it terrifies me" Buffy admitted.
"Buffy, I don't know why you suddenly feel this way, maybe it's your seeing Angel again…and Gunn returning to L.A with him, but I assure you-"
"No," Buffy interrupted him, "It's not suddenly. It's been gradual. And I don't mean love as in boyfriend love. I mean family love as well. The other day, when we were all picking Dawn up from school and her teacher, Ms Ashton, was there? She introduced you as her Stepdad. But that just- I can't say that," She admitted, "I mean my tongue goes all funny when I try and say I love someone…you. I can't say the words."
"Buffy, I-"
"But I do," She interrupted him just as her Mom came into the room, apparently looking for something, "I love you Giles. Love, love, love, love, love, loooove Giles. It feels strange"
"I shouldn't wonder," Giles agreed.
"Is there something I should know about?" Joyce joked, before carrying on glancing around the room, "Has anyone seen my glasses?"
"There in the kitchen next to the paper," Buffy answered distractedly, "You know I love you right, Mom?"
"Of course," Joyce smiled, "I love you too honey."
"But like, I really love you," Buffy insisted, giving her Mom a tight hug.
"I know," Joyce laughed slightly, "What's brought this on?"
"Buffy believes…thinks…that being the Slayer is affecting her ability to love" Giles explained.
"What?" Joyce asked, "Buffy, that's ridiculous"
"Is it?" Buffy questioned her, sounding very unconvinced.
"Of course it is," Joyce assured her, pushing her daughter's hair back behind her ears as though she were fifteen and not twenty, "You are just as loving a person as you've always been"
"How serious are you about this Buffy?" Giles asked.
"Ten," She replied, "Serious to the amount of ten"
"There is something," Giles admitted, "in the Watchers' Diaries…a quest…"
"A quest?" Buffy repeated, "Like finding a grail or something?"
"Not a grail," Giles corrected her, "Maybe answers. It would take a day. Perhaps two"
"A day or two?" Joyce repeated, suddenly sounding less supportive, "You mean you'd be leaving?"
"Well, uh, yes," Giles admitted, "But only for a little while"
"So you're just gonna up and leave are you? Just go, like that." Joyce accused him and Giles, frowned
"Joyce I-" He began believing her to be a little selfish about things, but he stopped talking when he saw Buffy shaking her head emphatically at him. This followed by numerous charade-like actions that seemed to convey the message to him that Joyce's sudden change in mood was hormone related.
"No, I'm fed up of waiting around for you to pay some actual attention. In case you haven't noticed my body, my sleep, my eating habits, everything has gone wonky and I know I've been here before- twice- but that doesn't mean that I don't need you around to help me through it!" Joyce continued. She stopped talking, putting a hand to her head."Whoa- sorry, just got a little dizzy there"
"P-perhaps all this, ah, shouting is upsetting the, uh, baby?" Giles suggested carefully, wary of setting her off shouting again.
"Rupert, the baby is like this big," She held her thumb and forefinger about an inch apart from one another, "All this shouting is upsetting the Mommy"
"Well, maybe I, that is we of course, shouldn't shout?"
"But it seems to be the only way lately that I can you to pay full attention to what I have to say and to what is going on!"
"Joyce, I," Giles struggled to put across what he wanted to say, "Buffy has Slayer issues at the moment so perhaps-"
"No, no perhaps," Joyce interrupted him, "I'm tired of I don't have time, or I've got to research something. For once, I would like to consider what I think before you decide to go away for a few days on some quest"
"Joyce, I-I, uh, I understand you're, ah, concerns," Giles reasoned, "So perhaps we could talk about this- in depth- later?"
"Oh, I think you should talk about it now," Buffy advised him in a whisper, "We'll talk about my quest thing later," She added before leaving the room and therefore leaving him to deal with her Mom's wrath. Just the way things should be.
"Joyce, I'm very sorry if you think I'm somehow…." Giles couldn't believe he was saying these words, "Neglecting you in some way, but-"
"I just don't want you to go," Joyce said quietly, tears pricking at her eyes and Giles knew what was coming.
"Oh no, it's okay, don't- ah, please, uh, don't cry," He resisted adding the word 'again'.
"Rupert, we only just got married three weeks ago and we didn't get a honeymoon because Glory's after us and Dawn and so it feels like we've barely had time to celebrate it and I'm pregnant and going through all these pregnancy symptoms that no matter how many times you go through it are still pretty scary and yet you're still leaving for two days even though I really need you here with me now and so Rupert, I'm perfectly entitled to do the crying thing"
And then she really was doing the crying thing, so he wrapped his arms around her and the two of the sat down together on the sofa.
"I hate being needy," She mumbled and he chuckled at her attitude to the whole situation.
"I am absolutely confounded Buffy," Giles said as the two of them drove towards the desert. Buffy hoped he wasn't talking about the directions to where they were going because she really wasn't in the mood for getting lost in the middle of nowhere, "I just don't understand any of it"
"You think you're meant to?" She asked, wondering how clueless he could actually be.
"Well, yes, a little at least," He admitted as he took a right turn, "One moment she's very happy, giggling even and the next I'm the source of all the world's problems and she's crying her eyes out because the woman on the TV commercial can't find contact lenses that don't sting"
"Welcome to the world of pregnant, hormonal women," Buffy grinned, silently admitting to herself that she was enjoying the painful confusion Giles was going through. "I mean just wait until-"
"Until?" Giles interrupted, barely keeping his eyes on the road as he looked at her in shock, "T-there's more? She's going to get worse?"
"Oh yeah," Buffy informed him, barely hiding her Cheshire cat type grin, "A huge component of the third trimester is complaining"
"Complaining and mood swings?" He asked and seeing his look of abject fear at dealing with the mere thought of it, she took pity on him.
"Yeah, but there's all the good stuff as well," She assured him, "Like the scans, finding out whether it's a boy or girl, feeling it kick, thinking up a name- all the fun parts" All the fun parts she herself would probably never ever get to experience, Buffy couldn't help thinking sourly to herself. Another self-sacrifice that came with being the Slayer. It sucked.
"The concept of naming is really rather exciting," Giles admitted, sounding even more British than usual in his barely contained enthusiasm.
"Yeah, just don't listen to Dawn's suggestions," Buffy advised him, "She had plans for, if it's a girl, for it to be called Angelique"
Giles just merely looked at Buffy in silent distaste and she nodded in agreement.
"Exactly," Buffy paused in thought for a moment before asking the name question that had been preying on her mind since Dawn told her the Angelique suggestion, "Hey, if it's a boy, you're not planning on calling it like Rupert Jr or anything are ya?" She asked, "Coz that'd be just cruel"
"Okay, we should probably split up into pairs," Xander debated as he, Anya, Tara and Willow were walking to Buffy's house, "Two of us should stay with Joyce and Dawn- make sure they're okay, the other two can patrol"
"Ooh, Tara and I could do a protection spell round the house," Willow suggested, "Make it extra safey"
"Oh good," Xander nodded with approval, "Then maybe it's best you two are the ones that stay there. Chant the chant."
"But I don't want to patrol," Anya protested honestly, "I don't see why we should have to patrol just because Buffy's away anyway. I mean I know that I for one would much rather be inside watching television"
"Fine," Xander agreed patiently, just as they turned onto Revello Drive, "We'll stay inside with Joyce and Dawn. We'll hang, we'll eat chips, we'll watch TV- all of the above," he turned to look at Willow and Tara, "You two good to patrol?"
"Yeah," Willow assured him, "We'll just set up the spell first"
"How does that work again?" Xander asked.
"Well, we cast a-" Tara was about to go magickal mumbo jumbo, but stopped herself when she realized Xander wouldn't have a clue what she was talking about, "We cast a spell on the house and if anything evil walks in…"
"This little baby does a intruder alert on us," Willow finished off holding up a clear quartz crystal, "It'll give off a harmonic tone…." She paused, "Or glows green…. we're not quite sure which"
"Xander come sit over here," Anya said later on, from where she sat with Joyce on the sofa, watching TV and munching over a shared bowl of chips. Dawn was already in bed so it was just the three adults that remained up. Joyce had initially protested, saying she didn't need glorified babysitters, but had eventually relented when Anya, having already settled herself down on the couch, flipped on the latest episode of C.S.I. No one in the house besides Joyce enjoyed the fairly new show, so she had been glad to finally have someone to watch it with who didn't complain every five minutes like Dawn, and sometimes, even Buffy. Giles just had a silent protest with his occasional looks of disapproval.
"Come on," Anya insisted, patting the spare seat on the other side of her on the sofa.
"No, I'm good here," Xander assured her hurriedly and both women squinted at him with suspicion, "What? I'm fine"
"Are you embarrassed to be sat near me?" Joyce asked, believing she was clicking onto what was going on.
"No," Xander said a little too quickly, "Yes…but no more than yes. It's just…" He immediately struggled to explain, "It's just at first you were Buffy's Mom…and then you were Buffy's Mom and Giles' girlfriend/fiancee/wife and that's all good. But now with the whole…Giles baby concept you're like…this whole new person that has a little extra along for the ride…and I don't really know how to deal with it…yet," He added the last thought just in case he was going to stick his foot any further in his mouth.
"You see what he really means is," Anya turned to Joyce with a smile, helpfully translating Xander's ramblings, "You being pregnant in turn reminds him that I also have the ability to be impregnated and so he's afraid to sit near you while I'm in close proximity as it reminds him of this concept and he's afraid that I'll suddenly get all broody and want lots and lots and lots of babies"
Joyce smiled at Anya's eager translation before looking over at Xander.
"Xander…did you try to think of me as…just 'Joyce'?" She asked and Xander shrugged.
"Well, yeah, but you need a category don't you?" He grinned, before pausing in dramatic thought, "Maybe you're a hybrid column…"
An hour or so later, when C.S.I was long over and something else entirely was flickering on the TV, Willow and Tara burst through the front door, worry and panic on their faces.
"Guys, guys!" Willow called, "Is Giles here?"
"What?" Joyce asked, "No- he's on that quest…retreat…thing…" She wasn't quite sure what it was to be perfectly honest "You know that"
"Why do you ask?" Xander questioned them, standing up to face them, clearly suspicious of their cluelessness.
"Because we just saw Buffy. At the graveyard. Patrolling. With Spike," Willow replied.
"Okay…that just created a whole world of whats," Xander concluded looking at Anya and Joyce in confusion as though turning to them for an explanation, but they looked as puzzled as he was.
"But that's not at all," Tara told them, "When we saw her…we also something kinda weird"
"What is it?" Joyce asked, "Is Buffy okay?"
"She's gone crazy," Willow stated simply in reply.
"What?"
"No, not crazy," Tara instantly hurried to calm Joyce down while putting one hand on Willow's shoulder, silently telling her that was the wrong thing to say, "She's…uh, just gone a little nuts"
"Huh? Will, what's going on?" Xander asked, "What- was she tap-dancing on gravestones or something?"
"Not exactly," Willow grimaced, realizing this was going to be harder to explain than she thought, "You see, erm, after seeing her…with Spike…we left…to stop patrolling and…well, erm, when we left you see, we-"
"Willow, what was she doing?" Joyce attempted to get the redhead to go straight to the point.
"Spike" Willow replied.
"What?" Xander hoped he had just taken the reply out of context.
"She was doing Spike…" Willow elaborated quietly.
"Oh my god…" Joyce breathed- it was like Angel all over again…but not…and yet…god.
"Maybe it's part of the Quest- some vision thingy maybe?" Xander suggested, the personification of straw clutching.
"Yes," Anya agreed sarcastically, "Giles sent her on a Quest to boink Spike. That'll be it."
"Could you not?" Xander pleaded desperately, "I'm facing total mental breakdown here"
"Breakdown!" Willow exclaimed, her eyes filled with epiphany light.
"Huh?" Xander asked.
"A breakdown- she might be having a breakdown," Willow explained to them all, "Maybe she saw something particularly shocking in the Quest- and she's just like completely broke down and….somehow that led to Graveyard sex with Spike" She looked at Joyce apologetically, "Sorry"
"No…it's uh…it's okay," Joyce assured her, but she didn't sound too convincing, "But, why isn't Rupert back yet? If Buffy is? It doesn't make sense" She was hoping when sense was made it would be revealed that Buffy wasn't sleeping with Spike at all. Well, hope springs eternal.
"Maybe he had to stay behind." Anya suggested, "Do some Watcher-Slayer clean-up, but Buffy came home straightaway because after enlightenment she was eager for the slaying and the boinking"
"Anya!" Xander exclaimed, wishing she wouldn't talk of sex with Spike so casually.
"What?" Anya had no clue what Xander was getting at.
"Well, the only way we can get the whys and wherefores," Xander said, ignoring Anya as he chose to view her question as rhetorical, "Is if we find Buffy and ask her, or bring her home- talk to her"
"Good idea," Willow agreed, "Okay we'll take the east side cemeteries and streets, you two take the west"
"Gotcha," Xander nodded and with that the four of them left.
"And I'll just stay here…" Joyce murmured, sitting back down on the sofa, "In case she comes back"
"What the hell is that and why is its hair that color?"
"Stunning one," Murk replied, "We believe he is…." There was a pause as both he and Jinx waited to say together-
"The key!"
"Really?" Glory smiled widely, "That's fantabulous!" Her smiled faded as she came forward and shoved Murk out of the way, "And impossible. He can't be the key, because see…the key has to be pure." She began to sniff Spike and he looked visibly offended by the action, "This is a vampire. Lesson number one- vampires equal impure"
"Yeah, damn right I'm impure," Spike insisted, trying to cover up his fear, "I'm as impure as the driven yellow snow now let me go"
"You can't even brain-suck a vampire" Glory continued, "He's completely useless"
"So, I'm just gonna let myself out," Spike attempted to leave but Murk and Jinx held onto him tightly.
"But your holiness," Jinx insisted, "We observed the Slayer. She protected this one above all others. She treated him as a precious"
"Precious?" Glory repeated, "Really?"
"But-" Murk began, before faltering.
"But what?" Glory asked, not letting him get away with it.
"But there was another that piqued our interest," He continued.
"What? Another radioactive vampire you think is the key?"
"Your brilliantness, there is one in the group who is with child," Murk continued, "It is possible that the child she's carrying is-"
"The key," Glory finished, "It'd fit…. it's new…in a place the Slayer would definitely want to protect it…" She grinned as everything started to come together; the smile disappeared as she turned to Murk and Jinx with an order, "What are you waiting for? Get her here!"
"No! It's not Joyce!" Spike called after them, but it had no affect.
"You're all protecting of her though…'nough of a confirmation for me," Glory grinned, "Now let's take a look at you precious"
It had been a while and neither Buffy, Giles or the others had returned to the house. In fact, Buffy and Giles had still to turn up at all. Joyce was still in her clothes and as she reached into the fridge for juice she wondered whether to just give in and get ready for bed instead of waiting up. She was sure Dawn was having a good time sleeping, being temporarily oblivious to everything that was going on in their lives. In the case of Buffy and Spike she prayed she would stay permanently oblivious.
After pouring out her drink, she put the carton back in the fridge and closed the door…. to find some creepy demon thing stood on the other side of it. Before she could let out a scream a scabby hand belonging to another of the demons put a hand across her mouth tightly and the two of them dragged her out, leaving the kitchen door wide open and the drink on the side left untouched.
"It's almost morning, we're not gonna find her anytime soon," Willow decided as she and Tara began to walk back to where they had planned to meet Anya and Xander.
"Yeah," Tara agreed, "She'll probably be at home now- we can talk to her there"
"No joy either?" Xander asked, walking over to them with Anya, breaking into their conversation.
"No, we're joy-free. I'm thinking- argh!" Willow cut herself off with a scream and quickly yanked her hand out of her pocket.
"You think argh?" Xander frowned as Willow carefully put her hand back in her pocket and pulled out the crystal which was right now, burning hot.
"The house" She stated simply, "Something's attacking at Buffy's" At this Xander immediately set off at a run and the three women quickly followed.
"At least we know what the crystal does now," Willow said to Tara as they ran, making an attempt at levity.
"Mom? Buffy? Giles?" Dawn called as she walked down the stairs in the silent house. It was early morning, the sun was barely up, but she felt wide awake. As she reached the bottom of the stairs she saw Buffy stood there, looking earnestly up at her.
"Spike's gone," She said simply, "Do you know where he is?"
"Er…no," Dawn frowned wondering why Buffy was suddenly so concerned about Spike's whereabouts when she spent half her time trying to get rid of him, "Have you seen Mom? Or Giles? I don't think they're here"
"I don't understand that question," Buffy replied, "But thank you for asking!"
"Right…" Dawn said worriedly, just shaking it off as Buffy weirdness, before heading in the direction of the kitchen. "Mom? Are you in here?" She called, but found an empty kitchen, an untouched glass of juice on the side. Dawn frowned and looked around to find the kitchen door was open. "Mom's gone" Dawn stated in panic, looking to her sister for help. "Where's Giles? Is he with you? It's not still…wait, how come you're back and he's not…? Shouldn't you be back at the same time?"
"I don't understand that question, but thank you for asking!" Buffy repeated her answer from before with the same chipper smile and warning bells went off in Dawn's head.
"DAWN!" Willow's voice carried through the entire house, "DAWN! JOYCE?"
Dawn pushed past Buffy to head over to the group of four.
"I'm fine but Mom's gone and Giles isn't here and Buffy's acting really weird," Her information burst came out in a fast paced rush and she could visibly see the four trying to decipher it.
"Wait, Joyce is gone?" Xander asked, "And Giles gone as well??"
"Yeah, but I don't think Giles even came home" Dawn said, "But Mom….the kitchen door was left open and there's a drink on the side that's not been drank…I…where is she?" Dawn looked terrified and understandably worried and Tara pulled her into a warm hug.
"It's okay," She said in a soothing tone, "We'll find her…everything will be okay, I promise. Don't worry about it okay?"
"We have to find Spike," Buffy announced walking over to them.
"Buffy, let's stop focusing on Spike for a second and more on the fact that your Mom's missing,"
"Mom's missing?" A voice asked and the group turned to see a second Buffy stood behind them with Giles.
"Yeah, she's…." Xander trailed off and looked between Buffy One in the hall and Buffy Two on the front step, "Huh?"
"Say look at you!" Buffy One exclaimed at Buffy Two, "You look just like me! We're very pretty"
"Two of them!" Willow exclaimed in loud confusion.
"Hey I know this- they're both Buffy!" Xander concluded, but felt less happy with himself when both Buffy and Giles threw him a look.
"No…" Buffy Two shook her head and pointed at Buffy One, "That's a robot. She acts just like that girlfriend-bot that Warren guy made. You guys couldn't tell me apart from a robot?"
"Oh I don't think I'm a robot," Buffybot grinned.
"She's very well done," Anya informed Buffy.
"Oh," Xander said as he realized, "Spike must have had her programmed to-"
"I beg you to stop talking," Giles pleaded.
"Oh god," Buffy breathed with a look of pure disgust.
"Yikes," Willow exclaimed, "Imagine the things…"
"No!" Buffy yelled, "There will be no imagining!"
"Or talking about it either," Tara added, nodded at Dawn who she was still hugging and the rest got the message and promptly shut up.
"Right, we have more important things to talk about," Xander agreed, "Like the fact your Mom's gone Buffy"
"What?" Both Giles and Buffy exclaimed.
"There's no sign of a struggle but Dawn said the kitchen door had been left wide-open," Xander elaborated.
"People, friends of mine," Buffybot said before either Buffy or Giles could comment on the situation, "You're forgetting the most important thing. Demons took Spike and they're going to harm him"
"Huh?" Xander frowned, "Why would demons take Spike?"
"Glory's demons…" Buffy said quietly, almost to herself as she tried to put together the two disappearances, before looking at the rest of the group, "He knows about Dawn! Grab weapons everyone. We have to save Mom and kill Spike"
"But how are you sure that it's Glory that has Joyce, Buffy?" Giles asked, but getting weapons nonetheless.
"Just playing the Sunnydale odds," She replied, "No such thing as a coincidence"
"Good point," Giles agreed.
"But we don't even know where to look," Willow reminded them.
"I know where to start," Buffy replied, "Tara- will you stay here and look after Dawn?"
"Yeah, sure," Tara replied.
"Great, let's go- I have a vampire to kill"
"This is fun isn't it precious?" Glory grinned manically at Spike, extending her forefinger, preparing to rip into his abdomen with her painted to perfection finger.
"Perfect graciousness!" Jinx exclaimed, stopping Glory before she could cause Spike anymore pain, "We have-"
"The key!" Both minions said in synchronization as before, this time dragging forward Joyce instead of Spike.
"Ooh! Yay!" Glory exclaimed, clapping her hands together in excitement, "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"
Murk had to forcibly drag Joyce towards the hell god as she tried to pull away, knowing full well the damage Glory could do.
"Why's she all tied up?" Glory asked, looking at the tie around Joyce's mouth with a frown.
"She isn't strong-" Jinx informed her.
"Though her kicks do hurt," Murk added in a mumble rubbing his leg.
"But she is quite a screamer," Jinx continued, "We thought it best for us all to gag her your wonderful fabulousness"
"Good thinking," Glory said distractedly, barely even meaning it but Jinx smiled anyway, "But you're not gonna scream now are ya?" Glory smiled at Joyce as she shook her head silently, the gag preventing her from actually verbalizing the promise. "Thought not," Glory grinned, "Take the gag off minions," Glory drawled impatiently as though she expected them to do it five minutes ago.
Joyce didn't scream or say a word actually, but her eyes widened in horror as she caught sight of the terrible state of Spike.
"Yeah," Glory agreed, looking in the same direction, "He is in pretty bad shape. Great thing about vampires you see- hard to kill." She wore that crazy grin again, "Ya see…I just got so bored…waiting for you"
"For me?" Joyce asked, very confused by what was going on.
"Yeah, I mean you know I need my key right?" Glory checked, "And baddabing here you are"
"What?" Joyce frowned, "I'm not-"
"No, of course ya not." Glory agreed, taking Joyce's hand in hers and moving it to rest on her stomach, "But this little chicklet in here is. Thing is," Glory continued and walked around Joyce as she spoke. However, she didn't let go of her hand and Joyce felt it twist painfully and something, more than likely a bone given the terrible odds, snapped in her wrist and she yelled in pain.
"Did that hurt?" Glory asked, feigning concern, before twisting it even further causing Joyce to cry out in pain yet again, "Don't you know it's rude to interrupt? Hello? Anyone in there? Not everything is about you. Now what I was saying was I don't have to time to wait for a whole frickin nine months for that little thing in there-" She poked her in the abdomen sharply, "To pop outta ya. So I'm gonna just have to bleed you which means…I can't afford to spill a single drop of your blood!" As she said this, Glory had walked back the way she had come so while Joyce's wrist was still in extreme pain, it was no longer bending the wrong way. Glory however was directly in her face, and it took everything Joyce had not to look away from her gaze, "But I can still cause so much pain without even spilling the teeniest bit!" She grinned, "Sounds like a fun challenge don't ya think?"
"Oh for Christ's sake even your bloody threats are lame," Spike coughed out just before Glory went to do further damage to Joyce's other wrist and she spun around to look at him.
"What?"
"And you're never gonna get your sodding key," he continued, "Because you might be strong, but in our world- you're an idiot."
Letting go of Joyce, Glory stormed over to the vampire, but paused midway as she realized this meant leaving Joyce unattended and free to escape. Barely even looking back she swung her arm, which connected with Joyce and sent her into the nearby wall and slumping onto the floor, but luckily (or unluckily depending on how you look at it) still conscious.
"You stay there," Glory ordered as though Joyce had much of a choice with all the pain shooting through her. That dealt with, Glory turned back to Spike, "Now you- my little bloodsucker, I am a god"
"The god of what?" Spike challenged, "Bad home perms?"
"Shut up!" Glory yelled, patting her hair self consciously, "I command you, shut up!"
"Yeah, yeah, okay, sorry," Spike apologized insincerely, "I just had no idea that Gods were such prancing lightweights, mark my words the Slayer" He coughed, the severe injuries Glory had caused him catching up with him, "is going to kick your skanky, lopsided ass, back to whatever place would take a" He looked her up and down, sizing her up as he selected some appropriate adjectives, "cheap, whorish, fashion victim ex-god like you"
Unable to control her anger, Glory spun around and delivered a powerful spinning kick to Spike's chest and as the force caused his hands to break free of the chains he went flying across the room, smashing open the door and landed a few inches away from Joyce.
"Great plan Spike," He mumbled, before, despite his terrible injuries and the excruciatingly distracting pain he was in, grabbing Joyce's non-injured hand and dragged her out of the room and along the corridor with him, neither of them sure who was holding up who.
"Bring them back!" Glory screamed at Murk and Jinx and the two immediately exited while Glory stalked over to where a small bit of blood smeared the wall, where Joyce had hit it, no doubt through scraping her back or something on impact. Running her hands over it, so it was on her fingers, Glory brought it up to her lips, wishing to taste just the smallest power of the key to remind her what it would bring her.
She spat the blood out in distaste. Neither Joyce nor the baby was the key. Neither! Which meant Glory still had to find who the goddamn key was.
"Come on," Spike said more to himself than anyone as he and Joyce ran to the elevator that was slowly closing. He had almost lost all hope as the door almost closed, but Joyce put her foot between it just in time.
"Practice at shopping malls," She shrugged, attempting to add some levity to the situation that the two of them both desperately needed.
Collapsing into the elevator, the two of them both sighed a huge sigh of relief as the door closed on the minions.
"Oh my god, Spike, you're…oh my god…" Joyce couldn't think of a word that would describe the terrible injuries Spike wore. Her hand hurt terribly enough, so she couldn't even begin to imagine the pain Spike was going through, "We need to get you to a hospital"
"No," He shook his head and this effort caused him to spit out blood, "Vampire, remember? Plus, too many questions"
"We need to do something-" Joyce protested, "You're…you're…."
"Falling apart," Spike tried to grin, but the bloodied cuts on his face made it hard to do so, "But I'll heal…. I hope." Spike used the moment of silence in the elevator as they went down the flights to take in the injuries Joyce had got. Broken wrist, several bruises on her face where she'd hit the wall and- "You're bleeding too you know," He pointed out to her. And she looked down to where he was pointing and saw the front of her top had been completely scraped away from the impact against the wall, and where it had been scraped, she could see blood seeping through.
"Oh no…" She breathed, seeing where the blood was coming from, "Oh no…"
At that point the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened and there were Murk and Jinx.
"You do not insult Glory by escaping!" Murk exclaimed
But before they could do anything about it the front doors opened and Xander, Giles, Anya and two Buffies walked in. The sight of the second Buffy confused Joyce but only made Spike groan in complaint.
"Slayer!" Murk said, laying his eyes on her. Though his look became less determined and more confused when he saw two of them.
Buffy shot him with her crossbow, but Murk kicked the crossbow out of her hands and punched her.
"Joyce!" Giles shouted running over to where she and Spike were sat, or rather crumpled in Spike's case, in the elevator, "Are you okay?"
She just gave him a look.
"Well, at least you're well enough to glare…" Giles reasoned as he looked at her taking in the bruises on her face and the seemingly broken wrist.
"Rupert…" She quietly caught his attention and she held out her hand that had the blood from her injury on her and then he saw the severe scrape across her stomach where the blood was coming from.
"Oh god," He said, realizing what it could mean. He picked her up, not letting her walk herself and started to take her outside- an easier feat now that the demons were running off up the stairs in fear.
"But- Spike…someone needs to help Spike…" She told him, barely a murmur and he looked back at the injured vampire and then at everyone else in the room, including the smiling robot. The robot stopped smiling when it saw the state of Spike though and immediately ran over to him, "Someone will," He assured her.
Willow was at the Magic Box with Anya de-wiring the robot so it would no longer be a kink toy for Spike. Well, actually Willow was de-wiring, Anya was just at the shop.
Buffy and Xander though, after dropping Willow, Anya and Buffybot off at the Magic Box had drove onto the hospital where Giles had immediately taken Joyce.
"She just looked so badly beaten up," Buffy was saying as the two of them walked down the corridor in search of the room the woman at reception had directed them to, "I mean, I didn't get much of a look what with the fight and with the whole Giles rushing her out of there faster than Bullseye, but she…. she just looked so bad. Maybe not as bad as Spike…but still pretty damn bad"
"I know," Xander agreed sombrely, "But it's Glory though…so…we should just be erm…" Xander couldn't get out what he was trying to say but Buffy knew what he meant and she filled in for him.
"Glad she isn't dead?"
"Pretty much," Xander nodded.
"I know…god it's just-" Buffy stopped as she read the number on one of the small-room doors, "This is it"
She pushed the door open just as the doctor came walking out having had the post-medical attention conference that members of the Scooby Gang always seemed to require after attending the hospital since their injuries were pretty hard to explain away. By the look on this particular doctor's face Buffy guessed that he suspected Giles of beating her Mom.
Walking in Buffy and Xander saw the two of them sat there looking completely heartbroken and dejected. She instinctively knew that the expression on their faces had nothing to do with what the doctor had most likely said to them about marriage counselling and how Joyce should never be afraid to talk to someone, but about something completely and something so much worse.
Buffy believed she knew what it was, as did Xander.
Where are we? What the hell is going on?
Noticing vaguely that someone else had come into the room the couple looked up to see Buffy and Xander standing there.
"Buffy…" Joyce said, her voice breaking at the sight of her daughter and Buffy rushed over to hug her.
The sweeping insensitivity of this still life.
"It's strange isn't it?" Anya asked abruptly and Xander looked up from where he had been sat on his couch, not doing much of anything really, except sat there.
"What is?"
"Well, it's just Joyce had this totally new life inside of her," Anya explained, "And now it's no longer there. Just gone"
"Yeah…gone," Xander agreed, deep in thought and the pair fell into silence again.
"I don't like it," Anya suddenly concluded, "It's made everything sad and everyone now feels really bad…it shouldn't have happened"
Xander smiled at his girlfriend warmly before patting the seat beside him and she climbed onto the couch with him, resting her head on his chest.
"No, it shouldn't have," Xander agreed quietly as he put one arm around warmly, yet casually so the two of them were just sat there, entwined.
Spin me round again and rub my eyes, this can't be happening.
Dawn walked into the kitchen in the morning, to find only Buffy there.
"Guess Mom's not getting up again?" Dawn checked. Joyce hadn't gotten out of bed much in the last two days, but she never seemed to rise in the morning at all. If she ever did get up it was in the middle of the day or late at night and even then it wasn't for long.
"No…and well, Giles is already at the shop as usual," Buffy told her. In direct contrast, Giles had been spending all of his time out of the house. Spending almost every moment working at the Magic Box. But just like Joyce though, his conversation was minimal and even though he was working in the shop, he didn't ever seem to be actually there.
Buffy though was sort of relieved by his reaction in a way as after the news that…that…well, that they'd lost…the baby, Buffy had feared that Giles would go after Glory in full-on Ripper mode and she'd have to try and stop him. But instead he seemed to have just lost all energy to fight at all as though the life had been kicked out of him.
"Do you think she'll get up later?" Dawn asked, "Or tomorrow?"
"She'll get up when she's ready," Buffy replied honestly, before falling into silence as she thought over what they had found out at the hospital. Worry for the baby had been mainly due to the severe scrape across her Mom's stomach but the Doctor's had told her that while that had been damaging it wasn't the main cause- some strong impact on the abdomen had caused the miscarriage. They had all easily figured then that it had happened when Glory had slammed her into the wall.
"I just still can't believe it happened…I mean it was all happy…and then it's not…" Dawn said with a shake of the head as she pulled a plate of toast closer to her.
"I know…but it'll be okay again," Buffy assured her, smoothing her hair down calmingly, "I hope…I don't know how exactly but it will…"
"How do you know it'll get better though?" Dawn asked earnestly.
"Because it has to"
Mmm what to say, mmm that you only meant well? Well of course you did mmm what to say…
"Maybe we should go over there…help out?" Willow suggested as she and Tara sat on the bed in their dorm, "Like with cleaning and stuff?" Uncomfortable sitting, Willow stood up and started to pace a little, "People always want help…cleaning…"
"Will, baby," Tara stood up beside her and put her hands on her shoulders lovingly, calming her down, "There's nothing…we can't do anything…they have to get through this themselves…it's gonna be hard and painful, but we have to let them."
"I know," Willow nodded, close to tears, "It's just…" She added in a voice so quiet Tara had to strain to hear, "I wanna help…."
"I know, sweetie, I know," Tara nodded, kissing her.
Sinking, Feeling
She was losing track of time, just lay there on her side, on the bed, on top of the covers. She'd gotten dressed each morning, fully intended to walk out of her room and head back into the world. But each morning she just couldn't face going past her bedroom door so she climbed back onto the bed, on top of the covers and lay there. She kept falling in and out of sleep, barely registered where the sleep ended and where it began.
At one point, several times, Giles had got onto the bed with her. Just lay on his side beside her and put his arm over and around her, careful not to knock her right wrist, which was in a cast, and lay there with her for hours as well. She enjoyed those moments, though she seemed to barely register his being there. She did register the comfort it brought though. It was the only comfort she'd felt at all recently.
Another time Dawn had walked in, sat with her for a while, attempted some conversation, which Joyce had replied to. Dawn was only fourteen though and so found it hard to figure out how to deal with the entire thing and she never stayed longer than a quarter of an hour.
The rest of the times it was Buffy that walked in. Buffy didn't try for conversation, but she did sit up beside her while Joyce still lay down, in the same way Dawn had sat beside her.
"Don't you have classes, Buffy?" Joyce managed to ask, worried that her daughter was missing too much of college.
"No, I'm good today, don't worry," Buffy replied, pushing the piece of hair that had fell over her Mom's face behind her ear. After that one movement, Buffy seemed to fall into a repetition of it, none of them really paying attention to the reversal of roles, as Buffy stroked Joyce's hair down smooth, pushing it behind her ear and away from her face.
Hold their heads heavy.