Betaed by Maria and Flight Of Fancy.


“I’ll be back tomorrow.” Before heading home for the night, Joyce bent down to kiss Buffy’s brow and smooth her hair back one more time.

“Mom, wait a minute. I need to talk to you before you go.” The newly-restored Light clearly wasn’t ready to be left alone, though it was easy to see that she was fighting exhaustion. It had been a difficult day for the young girl, and she needed to get some rest.

“What do you need, Buffy?” Joyce asked as she picked up her coat.

“I need you to be careful around Giles. You can’t trust him, Mom.” It was important to Buffy that her mother understood the situation with Giles.

Joyce stopped buttoning her coat, and focused on her daughter. “What do you mean, Honey?”

“Giles doesn’t understand about the Light and what it means. He still believes that I’m his Slayer, and that he has the right to control every aspect of my life. When he found out I wanted a paycheque from the Council, he told me he thought I was being self-centered, and that I shouldn’t be paid for doing my duty.” Even thinking about the altercation with Giles was enough to make Buffy start to cry. Though she did her best to hold herself together, she quickly dissolved into a puddle of tears.

Joyce was immediately drawn back to the sobbing girl on the bed. Intellectually, she knew that the small blonde had lived several lifetimes, and was now the Eternal Light. Emotionally though, Buffy was still her seventeen year old daughter, and Joyce would do whatever she could to comfort and protect her. Gathering Buffy close, Joyce rubbed her back and rocked her, until her daughter’s tears slowed.

“Sorry, Mom,” Buffy got out, as her sobbing ended.

“It’s okay, Buffy. It sounds like you’ve had a difficult time, and we all sometimes need to just let our feelings out. Now, are you ready to tell me about it?” Joyce located a handkerchief in her pocket, and started to dry her daughter’s cheeks.

“I don’t think I should, Mom. Let’s just say that I know how things went in the past, and I was really hoping to change some things this time. I thought I’d made a big difference, made things better...only now I know that I haven’t really changed anything at all. It sucks.” Buffy took the handkerchief from her mother.

“Oh, Honey, I’m sorry. I understand that you need to keep some information from the future to yourself, but I want you to know that I’m here for you, if you ever need someone to listen. Do you want me to go talk to the floor nurse? Visiting hours are over, but maybe she’ll let me stay a bit longer if I ask nicely.” Joyce wanted to be sure that Buffy was okay before she left.

“I’m fine, Mom.” Buffy gave Joyce a wobbly smile. “They’re just bad memories. They can’t hurt me anymore. You’d better go now, so you can get here bright and early to sign me out tomorrow.”

“Alright, Honey. I’ll go home now, but I want you to know that I’ll always be willing to listen if you need me.”

“Thanks, Mom. Don’t forget to pick Merrick up from Giles’ on your way here.”

“Will do. I love you, Buffy. Now get some sleep.” With a final kiss, Joyce was out the door.

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Giles woke up to find his nose smashed into his carpet. His arms shook as he slowly raised himself to his knees. From there, he was able to get one arm onto the coffee table, and lift himself carefully onto the couch.

His head was throbbing, and his mouth felt as dry as a desert. What on Earth happened? I seem to remember...oh. Oh no. I did exactly what I wasn’t supposed to do. I tried to force Buffy to do what I wanted her to do. Why would I do that? I knew it was the wrong approach, but I just couldn’t seem to help myself. I’m going to lose her if I can’t stop this behaviour. This new Buffy...She’s different. Still like a daughter to me though, and I’m so afraid I’ll end up losing her. I meant to find her and apologize. Just a quick drink for courage, and then I was going to call Joyce. I guess one drink turned into another, and I became completely intoxicated before I found the courage to go looking for my Slayer.

Giles wiped a hand over his bleary eyes, hoping to clear his vision. When that didn’t work, he looked around for his glasses, which were nowhere in sight. Finally, realizing that he wasn’t in any condition to speak with Buffy or Joyce, Giles dragged himself up the stairs to his bedroom, taking at least twice as long to get there as usual.

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“Don’t fret, my dear Spike. Soon you will meet the Light.” Drusilla was dancing around her new lover, Warren, who was smiling condescendingly at Spike. Warren thought he had stolen the enchanting brunette vampire away from her long-time paramour, and was trying to wallow in Spike’s misery.

”All is in place, all is in place. Soon there will be tea and cakes for everyone,” Dru continued.

Spike curled his lip at Warren. The boy was barely more than a fledge, but at least he wasn’t as disgusting as the last few lovers Drusilla had paraded through their lair. He shuddered at the memory of one of the scenes he had walked in on last week. He’d never imagined a Chaos demon was capable of producing that much slime.

It didn’t take long before Dru tired of her new playthings, and she was quite the black widow once they ceased to amuse. When it was all over, she’d approach Spike, begging for help to clean up the mess left behind. A lady didn’t clean, she said. Spike tried to convince her that she shouldn’t be making such a mess in their home to start with, but it was no use. Dru could be very stubborn. At least Warren’s remains could be handled with a broom and dustpan when his time came.

“I’m not going out to see the sunrise, Dru.” Spike turned back to his telly and a rerun of Passions.

Warren approached Spike, moving to stand between the TV and the seated vampire. With his face just centimetres away from Spike’s, Dru’s new toy said maliciously, “If Dru says that you’ll greet the sun, you can believe it’s going to happen.”

“Now, now. You are a bad boy, and there will be no tea for you, my pet. The time is not right for my golden prince just yet.” Dru pulled Warren away, tossing a secretive wink to Spike.

“Dru, how am I to know what you mean, when you won’t stop talking in your bloody riddles?” Spike demanded, as his Sire pulled Warren towards her bedroom.

The crazy vampire let out a giggle. “The stars tell me the time is not right for sharing secrets. Miss Edith will cry if I spoil her party.” And then they were gone.

Spike let his head fall back against the chair, closing his eyes in frustration.

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Since giving up on Angel, Cordelia had developed a finer appreciation for Xander. One night the unlikely pair had been forced to run from vampires, and ended up hiding in a closet together for several hours. When they were finally discovered in the middle of a heated embrace, they admitted they were together. Suddenly, Oz and Willow had a couple they could double-date with.

In fact, that was why Willow and Xander were currently at their usual table at the Bronze, waiting for their respective partners to show.

“How long do you think it will be, before Giles has news for us?” Xander’s knees were bouncing up and down energetically. He seemed anxious about something.

Willow sighed. “For the tenth time, I don’t know, Xander. Can we please talk about something else? Anything else?”

Xander scowled at her. “Would you rather talk about when you and I kissed?”

“No, no. Let’s talk about Giles.” Willow blushed a bright, cherry red. “Should we call Giles? What do you think, Xander?”

“Well, he hasn’t been at work, so I think we should stop by his house and check on him. Just to make sure he’s ok.” Xander couldn’t help the satisfied smile that graced his face.

“What are you smiling about, Xander? No communication from Giles is bad, not something to smile about. What if he’s hurt? What if he’s been waiting for us to come help him?” Willow began to really worry.

Her fear just caused Xander’s smile to grow. “Maybe I was right? Maybe that Merrick guy was a demon with plans to kill Giles? Have you ever thought of that?”

Willow was stunned, and couldn’t help but stare at Xander for a minute, her mind a whirlwind of panicked thoughts. “No, don’t say things like that, Xander. It was broad daylight when Merrick came to the house, and I don’t think an evil demon would have come to tell us about the Eternal Light. Oh...and he didn’t try to hurt anyone, even when you were threatening him,” the redhead finished.

The couple were so involved in their discussion, that they missed the arrival of their dates. “So, what’s up guys?”

Yet another conversation saved by the Oz-man. “Nothing much,” Xander rushed to say. “Have a seat.”

Willow moved over a stool, to make room for Oz beside her.

“Hey, Willow, Oz, Xander. Sorry I’m late. I had to turn down a football jerk. You know how it is.” Cordelia erupted onto the scene. “Move it, Xander,” she said, as she took the chair he had been using. “Oh, and while you’re up, I need a drink.”

“Sure, Cordelia.” Xander wasn’t a fool, and grabbed the opportunity to escape from the table for a few minutes.

After Xander left, Oz laid his arm across the back of Willow’s chair. “So, what were you talking about before we got here?”

Willow paled. Did Oz hear Xander mention the kiss? “What do you mean?”

“It’s a simple enough question, Willow. What were you talking about before we got here?” Cordelia blew a bubble, and started to file her nails with a file she pulled out of her purse. “You had a strange look on your face.”

“Oh.” Willow sagged in relief. They didn’t hear anything, thank the Goddess. “Xander was going on about his demon theory again.”

Oz couldn’t help but smile. “Who does he think is a demon now?”

“Giles’ friend, Merrick.” Willow looked embarrassed.

“It’s a little ridiculous, don’t you think? Everyone is a demon, in his eyes.” Cordelia was done with her nails, just in time to take the Coke that Xander held out to her.

“Whose eyes are you talking about?” Xander asked.

“Your eyes, Xander, and your assumption that everyone that you meet is a demon,” Cordelia informed him without a hint of shyness.

Xander smiled confidently. “So, you like my sexy eyes?” he asked, leaning into Cordelia.

“No, Xander,” Cordelia said, with conviction. “I date you, but I don’t think you’re sexy at all.”

“What? Well, then why are you dating me?”

“We were talking about demons, remember?” Oz interrupted, before the volatile couple started an argument in the middle of the Bronze.

“Huh?” Xander asked, having clearly missed that last conversational curve.

“We were talking about how you thought Merrick was a demon,” Oz explained patiently.

“I don’t want to start in on that again. Willow has already told me I’m wrong, but I still think that it’s been too long since we’ve heard from Giles.” Xander mumbled the last part into his Coke.

Wanting to placate her childhood friend, Willow quickly suggested, “Hey. Why don’t we go check up on him on our way home?”

“That’s a good idea, Sweetheart.” Oz kissed Willow’s cheek.

“Now that we’ve got that settled, let’s dance.” Cordelia grabbed Xander, and pulled him out on the dance floor.

It wasn’t long before Willow and Oz joined them, their concerns forgotten for the moment.

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Several hours later, the group of teens was knocking on the door to Giles’ apartment.

“Where could he be? It’s late. He should be home in bed now.” Willow began to panic again.

Her hysteria was contagious, and soon all four of the teens were banging on the Watcher’s door.

Suddenly, from behind them, came a voice. “What’s going on here?”

“Aaaaaah.” The teens turned around as one.

Cordy was the first to react. “Angel. You startled us.” Cordelia slapped him on the chest with her purse.

“Yes. It’s not nice to scare people, Angel.” Willow pouted. Oz thought it was cute, and leaned over to give her a little peck on the lips. Blushing, she whispered, “Not now, Oz.”

Xander had decided to ignore the vampire, and had turned back to the door and started knocking again.

“Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?”

“We’re trying to see if Giles is okay, oh brooding one.” Xander didn’t even bother to turn around when he answered.

Willow looked embarrassed, as she explained, “Xander thinks that, because we haven’t heard from Giles in a few days, Giles’ friend, Merrick, is a demon.”

Xander finally took a break from knocking on the door to turn back to the vampire. “Giles could be lying inside, dead, or hurt.”

“Well, you silly nit, given that it’s the middle of the night, I was asleep until you started pounding on my door.”

Shocked, the group turned to the door again. Giles was staring at them, clearly unharmed, even if he did look a little rumpled. The Watcher was dressed, but his clothes were wrinkled, and his shirt was hanging out of his pants. His hair was standing up, and, for the first time that the teens could remember, he was without his glasses.

“Xander thought you were dead, or being tortured, or something.” Cordelia slapped Xander on the back of his head.

“Hey! Stop it.” Xander threw a glare at his girlfriend.

“Why should I? You need to get some sense knocked into that head of yours.” Cordelia wasn’t afraid to speak her mind. “Now that we know Giles is okay, I want to go home. I need my beauty sleep.” The brunette diva turned to leave.

“Hang on.” Xander grabbed Cordelia’s arm.

“Xander! Let go of my arm. I’ll leave when I want to.”

Xander grudgingly let go of Cordelia. “Just a second, I said.” He turned to Giles. “What’s going on? You don’t call us, but you still have time to get drunk?” he ranted. “Don’t even try to deny it. We can smell it on you from here. You reek of alcohol.” He folded his arms over his chest and glared at the Watcher. “Well?”

Giles wished he had his glasses to polish. “Who do think you are, Xander? My father?” He stepped a bit closer to Xander, looking at him almost nose to nose. “I can drink whenever I want, and how much I want. Your supervision in this matter is neither needed, nor is it appreciated.”

Xander immediately deflated. “I...I...I’m sorry, Giles,” he stuttered. “I was...we were just scared.”

“I understand, Xander,” Giles comforted the youth. “You must stop rushing to conclusions though. Your rash assumptions serve no purpose and do nothing but escalate whatever situation you are in.”

“Okay, G-Man. Just call me No-Conclusion Guy from now on.” Xander responded.

“Stop that, Xander. I have asked you before to stop calling me that.”

“Sorry...again.” Xander made a face when the Watcher wasn’t looking. “I’ll shut up now.” He mimed locking his lips with a key.

“Giles,” came the soft whisper from the redhead.

“Yes, Willow?” Giles sighed. He wanted to return to his bed, instead of continuing the conversation on his doorstep.

The young witch swallowed. “Do you have anything new about...um...you know who?” She asked in a theatrical whisper.

“Yes, Willow. I do, but it’s late. Let’s meet tomorrow evening, so we can discuss the matter with everyone in attendance.” Looking quickly at the people assembled on his front step, and not seeing anyone objecting, Giles quickly bid everyone good night and closed his door. The group was startled by his actions, and spent a moment staring at the door that had been closed and locked in their faces. Giles had never acted so rudely before.

“Xander, I want to go home now.” Cordelia stamped her imported shoe on the stone pathway, snapping off the high heel and throwing herself off-balance for a moment. “Damn it, you made me ruin my shoe.”

“Alright, already. Come on, Cordelia,” Xander said with a lingering look at Giles’ closed door.

“Hey...wait. I can’t walk like this.” Cordelia stopped to remove her broken shoe.

Oz and Willow caught up to the departing pair. “Come on guys, I’ll give you a ride home,” Oz offered.

“Thanks man. I owe you.” Xander led Cordelia to the van and helped her into the back seat. Willow jumped in the passenger seat, beside Oz.

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While the teens spent the evening enjoying the music at the Bronze, Joyce and Merrick were chatting over cocoa in the Summers’ kitchen. It was late when Merrick returned to Giles’ apartment, and he went straight to bed, not wanting to talk to the Watcher who had caused him such frustration and disappointment.

Merrick deliberately woke early the next day, in an effort to avoid contact with Giles. The ex-Watcher was still yawning and fighting the urge to go back to bed when he left the apartment and headed for the street. Buffy had made her expectations clear. She wanted to be gone from the hospital as soon as possible, and Merrick knew that ‘I’m tired because I spent the night talking to your mother’ was not an excuse she’d accept for his tardiness.

Joyce was waiting at the curb for Merrick. She rolled her window down when she saw him, sent him a sunny smile, and said, “Good morning, Merrick.”

“Good morning, Joyce,” he replied, before getting into the car. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes. Thank you, Merrick. I slept like a lamb. How about you?” Joyce asked.

“Honestly, I could use another hour or two in bed. My eyes aren’t convinced they should stay open at this point.” Merrick laughed.

“I’m sorry I kept you up so late, Merrick. Time just seemed to fly when we were talking.” Joyce blushed.

“Please don’t apologize Joyce. I lost track of time myself. That happens when you’re in good company,” Merrick replied with a wry smile. “Maybe we can try to repeat our success at a later date?”

Now there was no mistaking the blush that stained Joyce’s cheeks. “I’d like that. Maybe over dinner next time?”

“I’d be honoured to have dinner with you, preferably in a location where it’s possible to ask you for a dance as well.” They smiled at each other. “But, first I have to help Buffy,” Merrick said, with a sad expression.

“You’re right. I agree that Buffy needs to come first right now, but when things are settled, and you have a break, we’ve got a date. In the meantime, don’t be a stranger. I’ll always have time to share a cup of hot chocolate with you.” With that, Joyce turned into the hospital parking lot.

“I’ll remember that, Joyce. Now, let’s go get Buffy. She’s probably climbing the walls by now.”

Merrick and Joyce shared a little laugh at Buffy’s expense. “You’re probably right,” the Slayer’s mom said. Together they got out of the car and walked into the hospital.

The first thing they saw when they opened the door to Buffy’s private room, was Buffy, sitting on the bed. Sulking. “About time you guys showed up. You wouldn’t believe what they tried to feed me for breakfast!” Buffy grimaced. “Did you bring the clothes I asked for?”

“Here you go.” Joyce passed Buffy an overnight bag. “Everything you asked for, plus a new toothbrush.”

“Thanks, Mom. You’re a lifesaver.” Buffy emptied the bag out onto the bed. “The doctor said something about papers you need to sign before I can get out of here.” The Light made shameless puppy-dog eyes at her mother.

Joyce laughed. “Okay, Buffy. I can take a hint. I’ll go deal with the paperwork while you’re getting changed.” She left the room quickly, heading for the hospital administration office.

“I’ll wait in the hallway for you,” Merrick quickly added, as he saw Buffy start to undo the strings at the back of her gown.

“Okay. I’ll be out in a bit,” Buffy said. Not even waiting for the door to swing shut after Merrick’s departure, Buffy dumped the bag on the bed. She hurried to put on her underwear and bra, but then paused a moment to bury her face in her t-shirt and just inhale the smell of home. The shirt smelled like her mother, and love, and safety. Buffy would have lingered longer, but she heard voices in the hallway and hurried to finish dressing.

Buffy only paused once more, after she put her pants on, to check the fit. Everything was just a little on the big side. Oh well. Either she would eat a few extra treats, or she had a great excuse to take Lorne on another shopping trip. It was a win/win situation.

Buffy was just sitting down to tie the laces on her runners, when the hospital room door opened and an orderly came in with a wheelchair. The Light sighed. She really wasn’t in the mood for this. She had an appointment with Clem at the warehouse, and she wanted to travel quickly. On the other hand, if this was the only way she would be discharged from the hospital, she was just going to have to put up with it for a little while. She smiled at the orderly, and sat down in the chair without a fight.