Chapter 34

By the time they made it back to the house they'd rented, it was long past their estimated 1:00 PM return. Giles had been easily talked out of his initial suggestion that Esme go to the orphanage in Bath, but the whole discussion had made Buffy uneasy. They'd agreed that on their daily call with the Council this evening Buffy would ask more about how hard the Council had searched for the children's extended families. Giles couldn't remember anything about family contacts, which meant either over 100 kids had lost their entire extended families, or some of the conspirators had reasons for wanting to gather a bunch of young Slayers near HQ.

All three of them were carrying boxes or accordion folders of documents as they headed for the dining room table, where Tommy had decided to set up his laptop while he reviewed documents. Buffy's face still felt a bit swollen from her earlier tears, but she'd made sure to fix her makeup a bit so she didn't worry Dawn or Will. "Hello?" She called as they walked through the house. It felt far too silent for a space occupied by William and Dawn, who were both prone to chattering and playing loud music.

"Out here, luv." Buffy turned toward the voice and at first saw only the empty living room and closed curtains, until a breeze shifted the drapes and she spotted the wheelchair out on the patio. She smiled and dropped the box she'd been carrying on the dining table, then headed outside. As she drew closer she heard a radio playing. She already felt better.

When she pushed aside the curtains, she started to feel less okay. It looked like they'd had lunch, which was great, except that it looked like it had consisted of a lot of snacks, and Dawn drinking wine. There was also an ashtray next to William, who'd gotten out of his chair and was laying out in a lounger. She dropped the jacket she'd worn to the meeting over the back of a chair. "I hope you both have sunscreen on. Especially you, mister." She picked up Dawn's glass and took a sip, only to find the wine heavily diluted with soda, and…Lemonade?

"Eww, Buffy, did I really need your cooties?" Dawn looked up from the papers she'd been leaning over, contemplating her sister with a wealth of teenage attitude. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she'd been eighteen recently.

"Just making sure you're not getting wasted." Buffy shrugged and picked up a tiny pickle from the tray on the table. "You guys ate something more substantial than snacks, right?"

"It's a Charcuterie. It counts as lunch." Dawn rolled her eyes. "Just making sandwiches seemed boring, and neither of us had any idea how to make some of the stuff that gets served as Tapas. Speaking of which, can we go out for Tapas for dinner?"

Buffy blinked, her mouth full of pickle, and turned to William for an explanation. "She's been researching Spain and Spanish food on the internet, and then she talked to the meat counter bloke for twenty minutes and got him to give her samples of everything local she hadn't tried before, and recommendations for what to serve with it. Took even longer at the cheese shop." He smiled and shook his head. "Then we had to go to two other stores to get all the veg and jams and bread and such they told her to get. If I weren't in the chair I think she'd have worn me out. I had to let her push me when my arms got tired."

Dawn snorted. "I think he made me push to slow me down. I'm still kind of annoyed I didn't find that mustard. We could've gone to the French market, it wouldn't have killed you."

"I thought the whole point was to get Spanish food? You spent almost two hours talking about Spanish cuisine, then you wanted to drag me halfway across the city to get French mustard. I had to draw the line somewhere. Have some of the almonds, luv, you'll like them."

Buffy munched another pickle and eyed the tray for something that looked like an almond. Not finding anything, she grabbed a slice of dry sausage. "Looks like you're out of almonds. I guess I didn't have to worry about the two of you occupying yourselves." She popped the sausage in her mouth.

"We got back a little before one and put lunch together, we figured you guys would be hungry when you got back." Dawn picked up the large wooden tray. "I'll go refill this, we have plenty left. Why don't you come help, and you can tell me about dad?"

Buffy sighed. "Do you mind if I talk to Spike first? I have some things to bounce off him. You can take the tray to Giles and Tommy in the dining room, so they can eat, and we'll be there in a few."

Dawn looked like she was about to protest, but finally shrugged and put her wine glass on the tray as well. "Fine, but if we're out of wine once I've made everyone else tinto de verano, then you're out of luck." She flounced inside, maneuvering through the blowing curtains with a level of balance that impressed Buffy. She'd seen her gangly sister trip over thin air more times than she could count.

Once Dawn was inside, Buffy pulled out a chair and sat facing William alongside the lounge chair. "Well, you had Dawn in a good mood, did a vaguely educational activity, stayed on a time schedule…On the other hand, you let a sixteen-year-old have processed food and wine. I give you a C- in teenage parenting."

He chuckled and shrugged, reaching out for her hand. "She had fruit with her pastry and coffee this morning, she got a lot of exercise, and those papers she was looking at are a translation exercise she's helping me with. Also, vacation parenting is a whole different vibe. I promise no alcohol on a regular Wednesday afternoon at home." He tugged gently on her hand, and Buffy gave into his urging, sliding off her chair and settling on the lounger beside his legs. "How was the meeting? Is he…?"

Buffy was already nodding. "Yeah, he's dead. Since before Sunnydale collapsed." She started to tear up again, and wiped her eyes in frustration. "I'm so…I don't even know. It's not just that he's dead. Evidently, he remarried, on January 1, 2000. I saw him in November 1999; I was in his condo on Thanksgiving weekend. We spent two days together, and he never said anything. Didn't even introduce us. He moved here so she could have a better job, and didn't leave us forwarding information. And then they had a daughter, and he loved her. He stayed with her mother until he died. As a matter of fact, it looks like he and his wife died because they were trying to save the baby instead of escaping from whatever got them. Which, based on the timing, might have been Bringers. So, does that mean that I was responsible, that me being the Slayer made them hunt him down and ruin the life he wanted away from me?" Buffy dissolved into tears, and Spike pulled her against his chest, wrapping his arms around her.

"Hey now, none of that, luv. Even if it was Bringers, and who's to say it was, that's not your fault. You'd have protected them if they'd come to you." He kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back. "Alright, then, deep breaths. Let it out."

After a few minutes, Buffy's tears ran dry, and her breathing evened out. Eventually she sat up. "There's more…"

"Not so fast, gorgeous. Get yourself a glass of water, there's a pitcher and glasses right by the door there." He gestured to a table over his shoulder Buffy hadn't noticed before, where a water pitcher and a cooler chest sat near several glasses. She grabbed a glass and checked the chest, where she found ice cubes and a small bottle that might have been the stuff Dawn was drinking, and a 7-up. She put some ice in a glass and filled it with water, and took the can of soda also. She would have reclaimed her chair, but he patted the lounge chair again, and she returned to the spot. "Alright, tell me." Spike took the glass from her hand and poured a little water over a napkin, then began to blot her face and neck.

Buffy took another sip of her water and tried to think about where to start. "The baby. My younger half-sister. Her name's Esme, and she's three now. She's been in an orphanage since they died."

William frowned. "Well, that's no good. Her mum didn't have any family? Can we take her?"

Buffy almost started crying again, because she'd worried for a second that he wouldn't understand how much she wanted to care for the little girl, and he'd jumped straight to assuming she wanted the child around and he'd be helping. "She has grandparents on her mom's side, but they can't keep her. There's a whole thing…Evidently her mom was a demon. Giles said the council considers them fey, technically, but I don't really understand the distinction between demon and fey."

"Fey are the ones who are most closely related to humans and naturally appear more human. Demons are totally non-humanoid, or they're humanoid but they can have a camouflage face to help them blend with humans. Which is a silly distinction, if you ask me. Vampires are humans originally, but they're considered demons? Plenty of Demons with a human mask are just half-breeds, which you'd think made them more related to humans, right? Doesn't track." He shook his head and tossed the napkin in his ashtray. "Also, I don't see how that has anything to do with her mum's parents not being able to take her in."

Buffy sighed. "Their species has some Elders that decide where people can live and who they can breed with, and when dad's wife got pregnant and decided to keep it, they cast her out. Now the baby can't live with their people. I don't know if they couldn't get permission to take the kid and live somewhere else, or if they just didn't try, but either way she hasn't been living with them. It sounds like they've gone to visit a couple of times, but that's it."

"When can we go visit?" He asked eagerly, then frowned again. "Or, is that me presuming? Do you not want to take her on? I know you might be somewhat resentful…"

Buffy shook her head. "No way. I mean, I'm pissed at Dad, but that's not her fault. She's my blood, and she's a little kid. She shouldn't be in an orphanage when we have the means to take care of her. I was actually a little worried you wouldn't want me to take her. I mean, most guys moving in with their girlfriend wouldn't be eager to take in a random three year old."

"If she's a Summers girl, I'm sure I'll love her." William ran his fingers along her upper arm. "You okay, luv? I know you weren't thinking about becoming a parent anytime soon, let alone a guardian for another little sister. Just last night we were talking about how we'd handle it if your pops was in jail or summat."

Buffy shrugged. "Honestly, between Dad being dead, him having a whole second family I knew nothing about, and the letter he left me…"

"What letter?" He asked.

"The lawyer had a whole big envelope of letters from my dad, the first one upset me so much I haven't been through the rest. Tommy has them where Dawn can't see, I'll show you later. He said something about knowing Dawn wasn't his, and thinking Mom got the Council to alter his memories. I don't want to freak her out about being the Key again."

It took Will a moment of thinking about that statement to realize what was wrong about it. "But, didn't they have you committed when you first told them you were the Slayer? And he wasn't around Sunnydale at all when your mum got clued into the whole 'vampires are real' thing. So, how'd he know about the Council?"

Buffy blinked at him. "You know, I've been so deep in this stuff lately, it literally never occurred to me to wonder that? I just assumed he picked it up at some point." She thought about it some more, wondering what else in the letter she might have overlooked. "I was so upset that he said he'd 'loved' me, past tense, instead of saying 'I love you', like, currently, that I stopped thinking about a lot of the other stuff in the letter." She raised her eyes to William's. "Like, he said he had an uncle who was killed a few days before he wrote the letter, and he had a cousin who sensed bad vibes or portents or something. Maybe I can try to track them down."

"The Council can probably do it. You're the Slayer, and they have a whole section of Slayer Line researchers, if they're tracking the genealogy of the lines they must know everyone who's related to the current Slayer."

"Isn't the Slayer Line section the one Merry was gonna join before she quit?" Buffy asked, pouring soda over what was left of the ice in her glass.

Will nodded. "Yeah, evidently she had quite the experience in Boston meeting Faith and trying to research her family."

Buffy snorted. "I don't doubt it. Faith could be quite a thing to deal with, especially when she was younger. Maybe I'll e-mail and ask Merry if she can help me with some research into Dad's family." She sighed. "Okay, I feel a little better. Thanks for listening, it helped me sort out my brain. I should go tell Dawn about Dad before Giles decides I've chickened out and tells her himself."

"Bring my chair over, luv, I'll come with you." Will reached under the lounge chair and grabbed his leg braces, which he fastened on while Buffy was moving her chair back to the table and rolling the wheelchair over. Once his still-fractured bones had some support from the braces, he was able to stand and turn, getting himself into the chair much more easily than he'd been able to when he first arrived in London.

Buffy smiled. "You're healing really well, aren't you?"

"Doin' my best." He gave her a cocky look that made her giggle, then motioned her toward the house. "After you, milady."

By the time they got inside Dawn had deposited a full tray of food on the dining table, as well as a basket of bread slices and a pitcher of drinks, and was describing to Giles and Tommy all of the treats and their origins, in a mix of English, Spanish, and Italian.

"Ah, good, you're done." Dawn smiled at them. "You were holding the glasses hostage."

"Those aren't all the glasses we have, are they?" Buffy asked.

"Well, no, but those are the glasses I had picked out for serving the tinto de verano. Hold on, be right back." She dashed outside, and Buffy headed straight for the dining table.

"Don't worry, we haven't spoken to her about anything but food." Giles reassured her.

Buffy nodded, not sure what to say. She was pleased he'd respected her wishes, and a bit surprised that he had, and a little embarrassed that she'd underestimated him. "Well, get ready for the big scene." She muttered, glancing at both of them.

Tommy nodded, and smiled as Will rolled forward. "Man, you had a whole day just this morning, didn't you?"

William smiled. "Gonna need a nap before we do anything else. Worse than Laurie on a sugar high."

Dawn returned with a tray containing the glasses, pitcher of water, and the cooler box. She set the whole thing on the dining table near the tray of food, and started carefully distributing ice into glasses. "So, traditionally this should just be red wine and 7-up, but I thought it needed something else, so I added a little grapefruit juice to the wine, which is why it's in carafes." She opened the cooler box. "Oh, shoot, the soda in here is gone."

"Sorry." Buffy responded, looking at the glass in her hand. "I was thirsty."

Dawn rolled her eyes and headed for the kitchen. Tommy decided he was tired of waiting and started loading a small plate with cheeses and meats. Giles pushed a plate toward Buffy before he began loading his own.

"Eat up, luv. Try some of the almonds." Will nudged Buffy toward things he thought she'd like, while Dawn reemerged with more soda cans and started carefully pouring drinks. Buffy was distracted by Dawn the bartender. The guys each got a 50/50 split of the wine/juice mixture and the soda, while she got more soda, and Dawn got proportionally even more soda, and also a smaller glass. "You should have more water b'fore you drink that, Bit." He said. "You were nursing the last one, but you should still hydrate. We sat out in the sun for a while."

She heaved a put-upon sigh, but silently did as he asked. Once she had a glass of water sitting next to her cocktail, Dawn turned to Buffy. "Dad's dead, isn't he?"

Buffy had whole plan for easing Dawn into the topic, and felt out of her depth having been interrupted. She finally just nodded. "Yes. He's gone."

Dawn teared up, but didn't break down and start sobbing. After a few seconds, she raised a shaky hand and took a sip of her wine. Setting the glass down carefully, she took a deep breath and let it out, then looked at Buffy. "So, what happens now? Do we just leave? Do we have to clean anything up, like when we cleaned out Mom's room, or…"

Buffy grabbed her hand, squeezing it. "The lawyers and Dad's company took care of a lot. It happened a while ago, so they already cleaned out the apartment and stuff like that. There's some estate paperwork Tommy's gonna help us with. The big thing is…" It was Buffy's turn to take a deep breath. "Dawnie, Dad had remarried before he died. His wife is also gone, but…They had a little girl."

Dawn blinked at her, trying to decide how she felt. She went to take another sip of wine, but Spike cleared his throat and she had some water instead. It'd taken most of the last two days for them to get back on steady ground, she didn't want to fight again. "Okay." Dawn said after having a quick think about it. "I'm super pissed that he didn't tell us he intended to get married or invite us to the wedding…But, what about the little girl? She's our sister, right? She should be with us. Where is she now? Is she okay?"

Buffy gave her a watery smile. "I think she should be with us, yes. I'm glad you do, too. There are some complications, but we're gonna try to figure it out and bring her home with us." Buffy took a sip of her own wine, finding it surprisingly refreshing. "She's fine for now. We're gonna be able to visit her tomorrow, then on Saturday we'll be meeting with some people about if she can come with us to LA."

Dawn frowned, picking an olive off the tray. "Why wouldn't we be able to take her home with us? Is it a legal custody thing?"

Giles cleared his throat, and Buffy took the opportunity to stuff some ham in her mouth. "Well, Dawn, it seems your father's new wife was a fey. Their daughter, although she's a halfbreed, is a registered member of their species. Which is protected by the Spanish government because at one point there was a black market in smuggling their pelts."

"Pelts?" Dawn blinked. "So, she's not going to look entirely human, then?"

"Likely not. She will perhaps be less hairy than the typical member of the Jentil species, but I don't imagine she'll completely blend in, no." Giles straightened his glasses and took a sip of his drink.

"Her mother was Jentil? That the tall, hairy Basque ones? The ones that manipulate stone, right?" William cut in, surprising everyone else. "What, you lot know I travelled the world and met demons for a century, right?" He raised an eyebrow at them. "An' before that, my father did what Daniel does, you know? We didn't call it Demon Anthropology back then, but it amounts to the same thing. He studied demon societies. My parents actually took their honeymoon trip to the Council house in Durango, spent a month so Da could meet as many Basque species as possible."

Giles blinked at him. "I had no idea there was a Council house in the region. I'll have them check tonight and confirm we still own it." He turned to Buffy. "That may put you in a better negotiating position, my dear. If you have access to property near where their tribe hails from, you might offer to bring her for visits during school breaks and such. In that case they may more easily relinquish her into your care for the remainder of the year. They're certainly not caring for her themselves."

"Wait, I'm confused, who are we negotiating with?" Dawn looked frustrated.

"Let's start from the top and walk you through everything." Buffy patted her sister's hand again. "You can help us think about what to do. And, maybe pass me the bread?"