Chapter 28
Buffy and Lavinia were helping set up the dining room for lunch and discussing plans for the afternoon when they heard the car pull up. "William!" Buffy smiled.
"Well, go ahead and greet your man, then. I'll fetch Rupert downstairs." Lavinia smiled and headed out, Buffy catching up to her in the doorway, then speeding past her down the hallway and out the front door.
She emerged from the house at a jog, dashing towards the men emerging from the car. "Will! You're standing!"
He snorted. "Well, I'm being propped upright with braces and crutches, and I can't stay on my feet for very long, but I am managing." He leaned forward carefully, brushing a kiss across her forehead as she stopped before him. "How are you holding up, luv?"
Buffy looped her arms around his waist gently, trying not to squeeze too hard in her eagerness. "I'm tired and worried about Wesley and Giles, and I'm so, so glad to see you." She leaned up for a proper kiss, but before they really got into the swing of it Tom was clearing his throat and unfolding the wheelchair next to them.
"So, chair's locked and loaded for when you're ready to sit down again." Buffy stepped back and frowned at him. Tommy shrugged. "Sorry, Will's only cleared for so much standing time at a stretch, we don't want him setting himself back."
"Hey, Buffy." Andrew smiled sheepishly as he approached from the other side of the car.
Buffy hugged Tommy and Andrew both quickly, allowing Spike time to carefully seat himself in the wheelchair and clip the crutches he'd been using to the back.
"I'm glad you guys are here, glad you made it safely." Buffy smiled and fidgeted a bit, then got a hold of herself. "Willow and some Watchers she's been working with are going to meet us here for lunch with Giles. Then, Lavinia said she'd take me to see the puppies before we head back to London this afternoon, if you want to come with." Buffy smiled. "I'm excited, I've never been around animals much."
"There are puppies, now?" Tommy frowned.
"Lavinia's a dog breeder. Or, she's just starting to be a dog breeder, I guess. This is only her third litter." Buffy took in the excited expressions on Will and Andrew's faces, and the hesitant one on Tommy's. "What's wrong, Tommy? Not a dog person?"
He shrugged. "Not really. My mother was terrified of them, she'd been bitten by the neighbor's dog as a kid. We were never allowed to be around dogs, so I'm not super comfortable with them."
She nodded. "That's fine, you don't have to come if you don't want to. And, they'll all be in a pen, so even if you come you don't have to get close to them." She padded the back of his shoulder comfortingly. "Come on, let's get you guys inside and fed."
"All packed, luv?" Will asked as they headed towards the house.
Buffy smiled. "Well, I've got my charger and my toothbrush." He smiled back. "I've mostly collected a bunch of papers, so I borrowed a briefcase from Giles. I bought this dress yesterday for the funeral," she waved a hand at her torso, "So my other clothes are in with my papers. That's all I have with me."She led the group indoors and through to the dining room, where snacks and sandwiches were set out on the sideboard.
"Ah, there you are!" Lavinia's voice boomed out from her spot next to Giles at the head of the table.
"Yes, here we are." Buffy waved nervously, grabbing Tommy's arm and moving them discreetly closer to Will's chair. "This is Thomas Paulson, and William Spencer." Buffy gestured to each man in turn. "Guys, this is Lavinia Fairweather, Giles' great-aunt. She's been monitoring Giles' recovery, and helping me with some research. And, Tommy, this is Rupert Giles, head of the Council of Slayers and Watchers."
"Very pleased to make your acquaintance." William said formally, taking in her appearance. "I apologize in advance if I act like a berk, I'm honestly a bit flummoxed by the incongruity between your appearance and your age."
Buffy blinked at him, wanting to make a snappy comment about his strange formality and big words, but not wanting to embarrass him. Giles raised a skeptical eyebrow, but also chose not to comment.
Thankfully Lavinia didn't know anything was amiss, and just smiled. "I promise not to take offense. I am a bit surprised, though. I imagined that with your…Unique background, you wouldn't be unfamiliar with magic and magic users. Or, with not aging."
"Yeah, but I got used to appearance and age not being connected for the undead; not so for the living. Aside from that, I don't much care for magic. I've used it a few times over the years when I've needed it, and one thing I've learned the hard way is, there's always consequences. Can't say I see the appeal of dealing with the consequences of fifty years of de-aging spells or whatever you've done here." William waved his hand to indicate her appearance.
"Actually, it was sixty-three years of suspended animation and rejuvenation spells, and the consequence was that I didn't have much magic available for other things." Lavinia shook her head sadly. "A small price to pay if all you want is not to age, and to have a good time. A bit difficult to reconcile when you find yourself wanting to help someone and you don't have the power. I've recently decided I have better things to do with my time and energy. A few wrinkles won't kill me."
William nodded, returning her smile. "Fair enough. I'm about to start aging again myself. We should compare notes." Lavinia and Buffy both chuckled, and Giles snorted.
"Will, where do you wanna sit?" Tommy waived his hands at the chairs.
"Buffy, luv, where are you? Next to Rupes, I suppose? And Red near Auntie on the other side?"
Buffy looked at the table and nodded. "Yeah, that's probably the best sitch."
William nodded and pointed at a chair. "You take the seat between us, mate. Imagine Rupes will have some questions for you."
Tommy nodded and withdrew the indicated chair from the table, shifting the seats on either side a bit to make room for the wheelchair.
Andrew returned from the sideboard with a full dish, and took the seat two down from Lavinia, leaving the one between them for Willow, which put him across from Spike. "Should we start eating, or wait for Willow and whoever?"
"Oh, no dear boy, eat! This is set up so people can eat whenever they have time. Very casual." Lavinia declared, then took a bite of her salad as if to prove how casual she was. Buffy didn't have the heart to tell the older woman that eating continental style wasn't casual.
William rolled over to the food, Tommy following him, and Buffy smiled at Giles. "How are you feeling?" She stepped closer to his chair and kissed his cheek.
"I'm fine, dear girl, no need to fuss." He was clearly trying to sound annoyed, but Buffy could hear the happiness in his voice. She squeezed his hand, and headed towards the food herself.
Willow and two Watchers wandered in a few minutes later, as Buffy, Tom and Will were settling themselves around the table with their food. "Spike!" Willow shrieked. Will rolled himself back from the table and allowed the redhead to hug him and mutter a bit over him, asking about his healing and the physical therapist Tommy had found in London. After a minute they hugged again and Willow withdrew to hug Buffy and Giles, leaving William to somewhat sheepishly roll himself back up to the table and begin eating.
Once Willow had kissed him hello and gone to get herself some food, Giles cleared his throat and turned to the trio recently arrived from London. "So, how is Wesley holding up? Horrible business, Anne being found that way."
Tommy shook his head. "He's not in great shape, honestly. I'm very glad Penny's here, I wouldn't know what to do with him on my own."
Giles blinked at him for a second as though he was putting together the pieces of his thoughts. "Ah, yes, Adam Lane's daughter. They've been friends since childhood, what with Anne and Adam being classmates. Damn shame what happened to Adam. He was a good man, and a good Watcher. We could have used him in reconstructing the Council."
Buffy sucked in her breath, glad Penny wasn't here to listen to Giles lament his former colleague's absence based solely on his usefulness. She knew how much Penny had loved her dad.
"Yes, especially since he'd finally remarried barely two years before his death; Penny lost her little sister and stepmother also, the same day." Tommy said, fighting for all the control he could muster. He hated how some of his almost-father-in-law's colleagues had hurt Penny by barely acknowledging her father's second marriage.
Giles shook his head. "So many terrible losses to the First. Adam had so much knowledge, and the younger girl, Simone, was such a promising Potential. And the wife…Kate?" He looked up at Tommy, eyebrows raised.
"Katherine, she went by Katie." Tommy said, relaxing as he realized Giles knew the names of Penny's departed family members and acknowledged their loss.
"Yes, Katie. He'd never so much as looked at another woman since Lana died, as far as I knew. I was pleased to know he'd finally met someone. It seemed like Katie was keeping him on his toes." Giles smiled faintly, and Tommy made a mental note to have his fiancee speak with Mr. Giles about his memories of her father. She'd want to know that he cared.
Buffy blinked, hoping her surprise and amusement wasn't visible on her face. "Wait, Penny's mom's name was Lana? Lana Lane?"
William snickered, and their eyes met across Tommy. "Don't you dare say anything bad about her Mum, Slayer, you'll never hear the end of it."
"Oh, I wouldn't dare." Buffy nodded. "I'm just saying, a name like that you could sell to a comic book."
Tommy nudged her, "Oh, because Buffy's so classy."
Buffy nudged him back. "Buffy's a product of my mom watching too much TV, and it's not like my name's Buffy Blake or something."
The atmosphere around the table relaxed as everyone's worst suspicions weren't confirmed. "So…What are Amber and Chet up to today?" Tommy asked.
"Chet's sitting in Giles' office, managing the day-to-day tasks of the Council, taking the meetings Giles had on his calendar, stuff like that. Amber's serving as his assistant-slash-bodyguard, with the assistance of Willow's spell detecting charms. We caught two more low-level conspirators that way; the guys scheduled meetings and came in on the offense, and Amber took them into custody." Buffy shook her head.
"Not too bright, are they?" William asked, frowning. "Seems all out of whack, what with their having infiltrated Council management for years. You'd think if they were this incompetent you'd've noticed them earlier."
Giles shook his head. "I don't think any of them are incompetent. I do think plenty of them, especially the younger members who got mixed up in this mess, aren't used to dealing with high-pressure situations. They're crumbling like a house of cards now that we're onto them."
"Well, let's hope they crumble fast." Willow chirped, dropping into her seat. "We all have too much to do to play catch-the-conspirator for the next however-long. I do have to go home at some point."
"Yeah, I'm getting married in LA next month, Penny and I'll need to get back for that." Tommy quipped, drawing chuckles from the group.
Giles rambled along the road to his Aunts' house with the group, taking in how much Willow and Andrew were enjoying talking to Vin, how Buffy was delicately questioning Tommy on Penny and Wesley's state, and Spike's quiet presence as he rolled along with the group in his chair. He had remembered the wheelchair, of course, one of the first things Buffy'd said to him after that first day of spell-breaking had been about handicapped hotel rooms. Somehow, though, until he saw it in person he'd still been expecting Spike to appear on his feet, with bleached hair and duster intact. Giles wasn't quite sure how to process the changes he saw, the brash vampire turned into this somewhat solemn man.
Before he'd worked out what he might say to William, Giles found himself in the old milking barn on what had once been his great-grandmother's farm, the group's conversations drowned out by puppy barks. He smiled at the joy lighting up Buffy's face as she took in the wriggling, barking lumps behind the fence. "Oh, they're so, cute!" The senior Slayer practically squealed as she leaned over the fence to get closer to the bulldog puppies.
Willow looked at the dogs, winced at the barking, and shook her head. "I think I'd rather have fish," she said, stepping back away from the noise. Tommy joined her against the far wall, leaving the rest of the group to draw closer to the pen.
"The bitch is a beautiful specimen, is she yours?" William asked Lavinia, looking over the nursing mother as much as the puppies Andrew and Buffy were now trying to pet.
"Technically she belongs to my business partner, but she lives here while she whelps and until the little ones are fully weaned and sent to their new homes." Vin smiled. "She's a very good dog, even tempered and no serious breathing problems; and she's a caring mother. In addition to being beautiful."
"I had an English Bulldog when I was a boy. Technically he was my older brother's, but Edmond couldn't take him to school when he went, so it was me caring for Mark then. I loved that dog. He was supposed to be sleeping out in the mews, but I managed to get him into bed with me most nights." Giles blinked at the far-away look on Spike's face. He'd never have pegged William the Bloody for introspection, or being a dog person.
"Mark?" Buffy asked, walking over to her boyfriend with a puppy cuddled in her arms. The little grey dog was wriggling and trying valiantly to lick all of Buffy's face at once.
"My parents believed in good solid human names for dogs, for reasons that always escaped me." He responded, eyes lighting up as she approached. "My father's hunting dogs were Sam and Duncan. Who's this, then?" He held out his arms, and Buffy deposited the puppy gently onto his lap. "Oof, heavy." He chuckled, rubbing the wriggling dog's shoulders.
"Too heavy? Do you need me to get her?" Buffy asked, bending over, already reaching out for the puppy.
"Oh, her, is it?" The puppy bounced up onto her hind legs and started licking William's face, and he and Buffy both laughed.
"Well, I mean I don't know how to tell, but I'm getting a female vibe." Buffy said, somewhat sheepishly. "She's so soft." She ran her hand over the puppy's back, drawing the dog's attention.
When the puppy turned back towards Buffy, Spike deftly lifted her tail. "She is, in fact, a she." He smiled up at Buffy. "Do you want her?"
Buffy blinked at him. "Oh, I mean, we're in a hotel, I don't think they allow…"
Spike waved his hand. "The little one isn't weaned, even if we had a house to take her to we couldn't just take her today. I imagine that by the time Dawn arrives from Rome and we're done dealing with your father in Spain, she'll probably be weaned and trained a bit, and we can take her back to LA with us." He ran a gentle hand over the dog's soft head, and the puppy wriggled in delight and flopped onto her back. William winced at the pressure on his legs, but obligingly rubbed her belly.
Giles felt almost like a voyeur as the couple watched one another. Had they always looked at one another like that? "Well, she is very sweet." Buffy said. She blushed and turned to Lavinia, who'd been standing off to the side observing the group. "Vin, what do you think? You know the puppies."
Lavinia smiled and shook her head. "Until you picked her up, Buffy, I would have said Buttercup was the calmest and shyest of the litter. I've never seen her wiggle like that around people, just her siblings."
"Buttercup! No wonder you were so sad, huh, baby girl? How could you possibly hold your head up with such a ridiculous name?" William cooed at her, and Giles nearly winced at the adoring look Buffy gave her boyfriend as he nuzzled the puppy. He turned to Lavinia and nodded. "Well, if she likes us better than most people, and she's generally well behaved, I'd say that's a sign. How much do you want for her? And don't lowball me, I don't want to cheat you after you've been helping Buffy out so much."
"I don't know, I've never had one of my little ones leave England before." Giles was surprised at his aunt's hesitance. He didn't think she was being coy, but he couldn't have imagined her being so invested in where the puppies ended up. He was sure she'd said she sold them gratefully, to escape the responsibility of caring for them.
Buffy snatched up the puppy from William's lap, wrapping her arms around the small grey body. "Oh, but Aunt Vin, look at how happy she is with us!" The puppy started trying to eat Buffy's hair, and everyone laughed. "We promise to send pictures, you know? And you're welcome to visit."
William nodded. "Obviously, you and Rupes. Any time you're craving some sun, just pop over to us in LA and visit the little one." He raised his eyebrows at Buffy. "What're we naming her, then?"
Buffy shook her head, pressing kisses on the top of the little round head. "We'll have to check with Dawn, make sure she approves of whatever we pick. Obviously Buttercup is out."
Lavinia shook her head, sighing as she stepped closer to her nephew. "I was really hoping you would pick out a puppy, Rupert."
He blinked at her. "A dog? In the house? I shudder to think what my mother would have said."
She smiled and arched an eyebrow at him. "I would have thought that was incentive, dear boy. I remember when you used to sneak those frogs into your room." She walked over to the pen and reached past Andrew to withdraw another puppy, this one mostly white with mottled grey spots. "This is Lilac, I'd thought the two of you might get on." Lavinia handed the puppy to her great-nephew, noting the somewhat skeptical looks they gave one another, and nodded. Yes, this would work out.
She turned back to William. "They're 1200 pounds a piece."
He nodded at her without blinking an eye, glancing over Buffy's face as she tried to lure Willow into petting the dog in her arms. "Worth it. Do you take checks? Also, how many pictures will we need to be sending for ransom?"
As she assured him that his checkbook was perfectly acceptable, and Buffy bounced with excitement that she and her Watcher would be raising puppy siblings, Lavinia caught the eye of David Simsbury, who'd been drawn out of his office on the other side of the barn by the noise. She felt her heart swell with joy as they exchanged smiles. Yes, this was definitely worth a few wrinkles, to know this feeling.