A/N As much as I love instilling humor in my stories, I also feel the need to address things the show overlooked or didn't care to deal with. Willow mind raped Tara and then the others. But so did the monks, on a larger scale. What Jasmine did to Cordelia is also rape. Rape doesn't have to involve sex. At it's core, it's a violation of self. So yes, in this fic, Joyce has been raped.
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"His finger was torn off?" Cordelia asked.
"Yes, I take it you didn't realize that, which explains why you didn't bring it with you. If you had we might have been able to reattach it. As it is, it is not a clean tear. The bone at the joint sight is jagged, there are torn blood vessels and the muscles and tendons of the area have also been torn. The bone needs to be debrided, which means the jagged edges need to be removed, the torn blood vessels cauterized and the undamaged ones we need to make sure maintain a steady supply to the surviving area, to ensure there's no die off of currently healthy tissue. Beyond that, he also suffered a blow to the back of the head which rendered him unconscious and he has fractures in his vertebra. He should recover physically just fine. Emotionally, he may experience phantom limb syndrome, which is a condition where still active nerves make it feel as though the missing limb is still there, when it's not. It can be difficult to deal with mentally and emotionally. Are there any questions?"
As the Scoobies were too stunned by what the doctor had told them to think of any questions, the doctor promised to keep them updated and returned to his work.
"What did the monk have to say?" Buffy wanted to know and hoping for a distraction from the news about Xander's injury.
"Well we found out why the baby's in danger." Faith said. "It's because monk guy led the danger straight to Sunnydale. The danger is that woman who did this to X. Turns out, she's a fallen Hell goddess. One who's crazy and feeds on people's minds to keep herself from getting too crazy."
"Why is the baby in danger from her?" Joyce asked.
"It might not be." Giles said. "It depends on whether or not she finds out the baby even exists. The baby wasn't created by normal means, it was created by Magic."
"We didn't make this baby?" Joyce asked, placing her hand over her stomach.
"I'm afraid not." Giles said gently. "It doesn't change the fact that I love both you and this baby."
"That's nice to hear and I'm glad, but if we didn't make the baby, who did?" Joyce demanded to know.
"The Monks of Dagan. It seems they intended to create a child and place the child in our lives. To do so, they would have had to create memories of her having always been a part of our lives. They discovered the Wards we had Anna place on us to prevent magical attacks. Because of them, they had to rethink their plan. Instead of creating a half grown child, they began a child. They took the cells they used to begin a child. They did so using Magic. And then they placed those cells within your womb."
"Why mom's?" Buffy asked, confused. She didn't understand Magic, at all.
"Because when we had Wards placed on ourselves, we forgot to place Wards on Joyce as well. She was the only member of our group vulnerable to Magic."
"Rupert." Joyce said. "Where did they get the cells they used to create the baby?" She had a suspicion she knew. Why else would the monk have requested to see Faith as well as Rupert?"
"From me." Faith said. "They intended to make me think I had a sister, so they took the cells from me. Just me. The baby doesn't have a father."
"It doesn't have a biological father." Giles corrected. "It does have a father. Me. I love Joyce and I love this child. That hasn't changed and won't."
"How can it not have a father?" Buffy asked, even more confused.
"Because it's a clone of Faith." Willow said. "Science creates clones this way too. It takes cells from one being and implants them in the womb of another. The cells divide and become a living being. The baby is a clone of Faith. It's more complicated then that, but that's as simple an explanation as I can make it."
"Okay, that explains the baby. Sort of." Buffy said. "It doesn't explain why the baby might be in danger or why these monks made it in the first place."
"Because they had something in their keeping that the fallen Hell goddess wants." Giles answered. "Some sort of energy that can be used to open dimensional gates. They created the baby as a means of hiding it from the goddess who wants it. And then the idiot monk led her straight to Sunnydale! And that's why the baby could end up being in danger."
"This also explains why the spirit recommended Joyce have a CT scan." Willow said.
"You're going to have to explain that too, Willow." Buffy said.
"Because the spirit thought the monks inserted memories into our minds. It could possibly damage someone's mind, especially if they have a preexisting condition that might be exacerbated by that kind of Magic being done on the mind."
"Indeed." Giles agreed. "Back when I was attempting to help Xander recover memories of his lost day, I commented that using Magic on the mind was rather like doing delicate surgery on the brain. It could cause all kinds of problems."