The first hour of comfortably socializing and talking about Xander's good fortune had eventually segued toward what a tight-knit group of friends they'd all become. They'd toured the place and ended up just outside of the room in which Angelus was kept. AS a way to move things along, Xander had laughed, and began to reminisce as the easiest way to introduce the Slayer's mother to 'reality.'
"Yeah, I'll never forget that first night when she saved Willow from that vampire, Darla. Man, finding out the scary stuff was real really blew my mind."
Joyce looked at the young man oddly, waiting for a punch line that didn't come.
"Luckily, we had the G-Man fresh from England to explain how to avoid becoming lunch, though he almost fainted when Willow and I told him we were going to help Buffy any way we could."
"W-well, I couldn't really do anything else, could I?" Giles admitted, realizing that while putting on a certain lightness, they should cover as much as possible. "My family had devoted itself to helping the girls Called to be Slayers, for centuries, now. A-and unlike many others, I've come to believe that having a support group is a good thing for anyone, but especially one with a destiny, Xander."
Xander smiled as he finished a sip of coffee, "You've been a Slayer for what now, Buff? Two years?"
"Just over, but, um, mom doesn't really know its all real, guys."
"Oh, that would explain a lot," Giles nodded, then turned to Joyce Summers, "I'm sorry, I guess when I stressed to Buffy how important secrecy was to protect people, I'd not made it clear I meant generally, and not specifically. Now Ms. Summers, please keep an open mind—"
"Mr. Giles, I'm beginning to wonder what this is really all about…"
"Mrs. Summers," Xander interrupted, "Before anything else is said, please follow me into the next room. Everyone else might as well come along, too. Before you declare us all crazy, or weirdoes, I have proof that everything we're going to tell you is true."
He keyed and combination-coded a slightly recessed door which slid to the side and remained open. The young man stepped through and after Giles followed, Joyce allowed her curiosity to move her with them. She watched Xander open a safe on the far side of the room; inside there seemed a casket underneath a large weight.
"What's in there, Xander?" Joyce asked, almost afraid to as it was a casket.
"One of the nastiest vampires that's ever been recorded; you need proof, I'll let you see it. I have holy water, mirrors, a few pints of blood, dynamite with a remote…you'll be perfectly safe."
"You strapped dynamite to Angel?" Buffy asked in surprise.
"Yeah, Buffy, blowing up vampires works really well for those of us not Chosen," the young man smiled, "and no one here is going to be hurt by the vampire."
Giles intervened before an argument could break out, "How do you intend to proceed, Xander?"
"Well, I'm going to crank the weight off using the, um, hand crank. It will lift the weight up so the lid of the coffin can be opened. We're just going to open the part covering the top part of him."
"Is he chained up inside?"
"You bet, real heavy ones, extra locks. And the sides are covered in a cloth with bunches of little crosses to keep Angie from moving around?"
"You have a girl in there?"
"It's short for Angel, Mrs. Summers."
"Buffy, isn't that the name of that history tutor you had last year?"
"Um, yeah…"
Xander butted in as Giles was ready to open the partial-lid, "Okay, let's save that fight 'til later. Right now I have a vampire to humiliate and torture."
Buffy looked horrified at that, and looked at her best male friend, "Torture? Why would you torture—"
She quieted when he held up holy water and stared at her. Xander turned to Joyce.
"Mrs. Summers, this is holy water, just water blessed by a priest," he told the woman and allowed a few drops to land on his hand, then Buffy's, then Joyce's. "See? No harm, no foul. But dribble this onto a vampire, and it acts like acid, hurts 'em a bunch. If I drop it on the vampire's face, it will definitely look like the monster it is."
"Xander—"
"Buff, until there's a soul in the corpse, it's a monster. Giles, open the top." The Watcher did as bade, and looked in at the snarling but still human-looking Angelus. Rupert fell back on his arse, laughing at what was within. Buffy and the others, including Joyce, looked inside and saw from the chest up. Xander really had cross-dressed the vampire and shaved the beast's head except for a hot-pink Mohawk. Not a pretty sight; Buffy was horrified, and the others disgusted at the thing within the box. Jenny smirked and shook her head.
Joyce turned to Xander, "Do you have more evidence than a pervert in a coffin, Alexander?"
Xander splashed some of the holy water onto Angelus' face, which smoked and burned; the vampire's true face emerged in front of Joyce's eyes, and the very foul language amidst the screams did nothing to endear Joyce Summers to the disturbed person or thing within.
"Joyce, I have a mirror, but do you have one in you purse? If so, let me hold it and you can tell." A moment later, "See, no reflection."
He sipped the holy water, than dribbled more on the vamp, causing a repeat reaction."
Joyce began to believe, and didn't like it, 'So why don't you put a wooden stake in this vampire's heart, Xander?"
"Because this one was cursed by gypsies after murdering a bunch of them. The curse was to force the soul back into the body. You see, when one's body is turned into the vampire, the soul leaves, and this here's nothin' more than a demon. But since Angel's only friend was Buffy, she feels guilty and wants to give Angel, the soul, a second chance."
Angelus began swearing and cursing at hearing this, so Xander dumped the rest of the water on him just before Giles slammed the box shut. Joyce considered this for a minute.
"If this is a demon, and I'm not ready to believe you yet, why would you want to bring the soul back?"
Xander turned to the blonde slayer, "I don't, really…Buffy?"
"Me? Oh, um, because he hasn't earned redemption yet for everything he did. So he needs to be here to do redemption stuff."
Joyce frowned, "So this Angel was a bad person when he was alive?"
"He was a vampire mom…"
"But I thought that was a demon…or did he want to become a vampire so that's why he's going to go to hell if you don't bring him back?"
Xander interjected himself, "Um Joyce, can I ask you a question of a kitchen nature?"
"Sure, Xander," the woman replied at the seeming nonsequitor.
"Since moving to Sunnydale, have you owned a barbecue fork?"
"I think I bought one a couple of months ago, why?"
"That young blonde girl named Darla was a vampire, and she attacked you; how could you fall on a barbecue fork that could pierce you at that angle and that's the only injury you had? Ever notice that people in this town open the door and wave you in, but never really make a habit of inviting you in? Just a few more thoughts."
The boy sighed, "Giles? Could you answer the tricky questions while I put the weight back down on Dead Boy?"
"Um, certainly, but perhaps back upstairs and we'll sit down and have some tea…"
Joyce nodded, "That might be best."
An hour later, after the "World is older" speech, and a fairly good overview of events since Buffy came to Sunnydale, Joyce believed…but agreed with Giles and Xander that if Angel were brought back, the vampire would NOT remain in Sunnydale. She didn't like the unfairness of the Slayer Calling, to which everyone agreed, but was happy to know there were people helping her daughter be Slayer and a normal teen at the same time.
"You can't stop being a Slayer?"
"No mom, it's been thousands of years, and no one is sure about any of it except that when one of us dies, then another is Called, and that we fight and dust the vampires and other icky things."
"I don't like the fact that you say you died, Buffy, but doesn't that mean it's the turn of this Kendra? Mr. Giles?"
"While one might expect that, Buffy is still a Slayer even though Kendra was Called. The fact that Buffy still had the abilities shows that. And that means that as demonic things tend to pick up on that, she'd always have to worry about being surprised. With us, she doesn't have to be a, a fugitive from herself, o-or do this on her own."
Jenny called out from her laptop in the adjacent room, "I think I have it!"
"Try antibiotics," Xander deadpanned in the silence. "Do you mean the curse?"
"Yes, and I have everything except an Orb of Thesula…"
"Oh, I'm using one as a fancy paperweight on my desk at the library," Giles remarked, then rolled his eyes when Xander handed him a twenty-dollar bill, but pocketed it. "If someone wants to retrieve it from the library, we should probably get this over with."
"Good idea, Giles," Xander agreed, "And I have forty dollars, one last Hawaiian shirt with matching shorts, and some old flip-flops…enough to send Angel to LA tonight by bus in style."
"Good idea, but we should keep him overnight and tomorrow to make sure you haven't turned him feral or something in that box downstairs."
"Tomorrow evening works for me."
Buffy looked at both of them, but knew with her mother in the room, she stood no chance.
