Joyce knocked on the ornately carved door leading into Giles' apartment. She could hear someone singing a lullaby. Trying the knob she found the door unlocked and entered, "Mr. Giles; am I interrupting anything?" His back was to her and it appeared as though he was holding an infant and singing. She walked around to get a better look at the little one who had captured the heart of this man. She stepped back in shock when she saw he was holding nothing; but he carried on as if it were all real.

She watched as he made the motion of laying an infant into a crib.

"Shhhhh... Daddy's here. Sleep little one." Giles turned so he was looking over his shoulder, "She's beautiful, luv." His tone was one of love and utter divotion.

As Joyce tried to gather what had just transpired she saw Giles' demeanor change. He was once again cradling and rocking the invisible baby; but now he was crying with great intensity.

"Cassy; no, you can't be de... de..." He went into another fit of crying then motioned to lie the 'baby' down and leaned over it. She heard a single kiss sound; then Giles' eyes were all dark with hate and anger.

Clearly something was going on with him. Joyce stood back watching him as he rushed about looking for something. He found a stake and started for the door. "That... that bloody, sodding... vampire. I'm... I'm gonna kill... kill it." She had to stop him from leaving; there was no telling what he might do while he was like this.

"Mr. Giles!" He only hesitated, "RIPPER! STOP!"

Giles stopped then turned to face Joyce. "Ariana, I'm so... so sorry. I should have... have come home. It's all... all my fault." His eyes widened as he remembered following her trail into an alley, "I... I saw the... the vampire kill you." Giles looked at Joyce with confusion. "You... you should be dead..." realization came to his eyes, "You're a vampire now. I saw you drink his blood." He raised the stake ready to plunge it into Joyce, "I'm sorry luv... so very sorry..."

Joyce summoned all her strength and slapped Giles across the face, "Mr. Giles, it's me Joyce. Buffy's mom!" the slap caused Giles to step back, this gave Joyce the opportunity to get away. She ran into his kitchen looking for anything that may help to snap him back to reality. A shock that is what he needs... she opened his freezer and found a bin of ice cubes. She took them bin and all. She went back to the living room and found him, with his back to her, kneeling on the floor, holding the stake as if he had just plunged it into a vampire.

She crept closer, with one smooth motion she pulled on the neck of his t-shirt and dumped the ice down his shirt. The sudden cold caused Giles to take in a sharp breath. He fell to the floor face first. He stayed that way for about five minutes. He rolled onto his back causing the melting ice to mush into his shirt.

"Why am I wet?" he noticed Joyce hovering over him, "Joyce, what... what are you doing here?" A sickening thought occurred to him, "Is Buffy alright?"

"Buffy's fine; it's you I'm worried about." She watched him closely as he got up off the floor. "Are you feeling better?"

"Feeling better? I don't understand."

"I came over to talk to you about Buffy. You didn't answer the door, I heard you singing, and it was unlocked. When I entered I noticed the camcorder and thought... "

At the reminder of the camcorder Giles went over to it and pressed the stop button, "I... I've been having bad dreams and wanted to find out about them before enlisting Buffy's help to save the family in my dreams from a terrible fate."

Joyce stood looking into his eyes. As he looked into hers he saw sorrow there. "Joyce, it will be alright. I recorded the dream. Hopefully there will be enough clues as to where this will take place..." Joyce was slowly shaking her head. "Mr. Gi... Rupert, don't watch the video alone. I think you may find things in there that you may not want to know."

"I... I didn't want to... to involve anyone else just yet."

"I'll stay with you if you want. I've already been here through it all; so I'm already involved."

Giles agreed, hooked up the camcorder to his little TV and pressed play. He had to pause it several times in order to let his eyes clear from the tears that flooded them. The long buried memory of his girlfriend Ariana and the child they had together, Cassandra, resurfaced. When the camcorder finished playing, Giles was emotionally wiped.

"I...I can't believe I forgot about them. They're the... the reason I changed. I got a... a respectable job and... and was going to ask Ariana to marry me."

"So you weren't a Watcher then?"

"No... no, that was the last thing I... I wanted to be."

"Why did you say it was all, your fault? I mean vampires prey on the weak, so how could this have been your fault."

Giles paused, took a deep breath then spoke, "I-I was suppose to take Ariana and Cassandra that night to... to meet my parents." he swallowed a lump that had formed in his throat, "I was so nervous I stopped in at... at a pub after work to have a drink. You know, to gather my... my courage. Well one led... led to two which led to... to five; eventually Ethan found me and... and said Ariana was waiting for me. I left the pub and by the time I got to our flat; Cassy was de... de... dead and Ariana was missing." tears started to stream down his cheeks, "The next evening, I... I was back at my flat packing when... when Ariana showed up. She was turned and... and tried to bite me. I had to... to... If I had gone straight home I might have prevented it all"

Joyce put her hand on his arm, "Or you might have been killed too."

"You... you must never tell Buffy about this. Now that I remember it all I shouldn't have the... the nightmares anymore."

"If you ever need someone to talk to, call me." Joyce's eyes were pleading him to say he would.

Giles sat in his living room sipping the amber liquid in his glass. The funeral was over; everyone had gone their separate ways to grieve the loss of Joyce. Tales of Brave Ulysses by Cream was playing in the background. His thoughts led back to the night Joyce had learned of the family he once had and the promise she kept.

THE END