full 3/4 1/2   skin light dark       
 
The Gentleman Returns by slaymesoftly
 
Two
 
<<     >>
 
CHAPTER TWO
 
By the time her birthday rolled around, Spike’s warnings had been explained away, and Buffy no longer gave much thought to what he’d told her mother. Giles consistently assured her she had nothing to worry about, that he had taken care of it. He admitted the Council was going to provide a vampire for her to stake, but assured her that a slayer of her experience and skill wasn’t going to have a problem with it. He suggested he take her and Joyce somewhere nice for her birthday dinner.
 
So, when she came home from patrol one night, much more tired than usual, she thought nothing of it, only going straight to bed and falling sound asleep. She felt fine the next morning, saying to her mother, “Wow. I must have really needed that sleep last night. I don’t think I even rolled over between when I fell into bed and this morning.  But I feel great now. Guess I should try patrolling earlier so I can get to bed at almost normal-people hours.”
 
“You were tired?” Joyce said, giving Buffy a sharp look that didn’t do anything to conceal her anxiety.
 
“Yes, Mom. I was tired. Regular old I’m-a-teenager-and-I-don’t-get-enough-sleep tired. Not weak. Not sick. See?” Buffy bent her knife in half with her fingers. “There’s nothing wrong with me that a good seven hours of sleep didn’t fix.”
 
“If you’re sure....”
 
“I’m sure. So take that I’m-going-to-tell-Spike look off your face.” She muttered into her cereal bowl, “Anyway, how would you tell him? We don’t even know where the dumbass is now.”
 
Buffy didn’t notice Joyce’s guilty flinch. She had no idea her mother had a phone number for the missing vampire. A number Joyce had kept, not wanting to encourage Buffy’s friendship with another demon, but too impressed by Spike’s insistence that she might need his help to throw it away.
 
“I won’t be home in time to start dinner for you,” Buffy said as she gathered her books. “Giles is having me do some kind of spooky meditation stuff after school all this week. I’ll probably stay and do my homework while I’m in the library.”
 
Joyce frowned, but gave a little nod. “All right, honey, just let me know if I’ll need to keep your food warm. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll expect to see you by 6:30.”
 
 
 
XXXXXXXXX
 
 
Buffy walked in the door just after six, tossing her book bag onto the couch and frowning when it missed and slid to the floor.  “Klutz,” she muttered to herself as she picked it up.
 
“Mom, I’m home.”
 
“In here, honey. Just getting dinner out of the oven. I thought we’d just eat in the kitchen.”
 
“Fine by me.” Buffy took an apple out of the bowl and began munching it as she watched her mother prepare plates for each of them.
 
“How do you feel today?” Joyce asked, careful to keep her eyes on her task and not look at Buffy.
 
“Fine. I was a little clumsy, but I feel fine. I’ll do a quick patrol after dinner, come home, do some homework and go to bed early. No more tired, sleepy Buffy for me.”
 
“Clumsy?”  Joyce set the plates on the table and sat down across from Buffy.
 
“Mom....”
 
“Buffy, don’t you think.... just in case?”
 
“If Spike wasn’t willing to stay here long enough to tell me what he was talking about, and Angel and Giles say there’s nothing to worry about, then who are we going to believe? Some random vampire who’d rather be with his ho-bag girlfriend than here where I am, or....” Her voice trailed off as she realized what she’d just said and that her mother had caught the implication.
 
Joyce’s raised eyebrows were accompanied by, “So, because you’re mad that Spike still loves his vampire girlfriend, you’re not going to trust that he was trying to help you?”
 
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” Buffy mumbled, concentrating hard on her food.
 
“Uh huh.”
 
“Okay. I’m done. I’ll just patrol and... and then I’ll be home. ‘K? Bye!”
 
She bolted out the door, leaving Joyce staring after her and biting her lip.
 
 
XXXXXXX
 
 
When Buffy staggered back into the house an hour later, Joyce took one look at her and ran to the small desk where she’d put Spike’s matchbook. Without even asking Buffy, who was collapsed on the couch and rubbing a bruise on her jaw, what happened, she began dialing. 
 
“What are you doing?”
 
“I’m calling Spike.”
 
“You’re calling Spike?” Buffy’s eyes narrowed. “He gave you his phone number and you didn’t tell me?”
 
Joyce held up her hand for silence as they both heard, “This better be bloody good. I was about to—”
 
“Spike? Is that you?”
 
“Mrs. Summers? Joyce?”
 
“Yes, it’s me. I’m sorry to bother you, but you said if I thought anything was happening, and I was just....”
 
“No worries, luv. You did exactly right.  What’s going on?”
 
Buffy, who had by now snatched the phone away from her mother, said, “What’s going on is that everybody but me seems to know what’s going on, but nobody will tell me, and you had to go and get my mother involved and now she’s all worried, and there’s no reason, I’m just a little tired, it’s just a silly test, and I’m going to ace it, so you can just go back to your stupid girlfr—”
 
“Missed you too, pet.” She could hear the smile in his voice.
 
“That’s not what I said,” Buffy grumbled, unable to resist picturing the smile in spite of herself.
 
“”S what I heard.  When’s your birthday?”
 
“Tomorrow. Not that it’s any of your—”
 
“Bollocks! Wish your mum had called me sooner. I didn’t know it was this close. Okay, here’s the plan. I’ll leave now, but if I don’t make it before daylight, look for me tomorrow night.  And don’t go anywhere with your watcher.”
 
“Spike, all I have to do is stake some vampire the Council points me at. I don’t know why you’re being all over-protective.”
 
“Really? How do you feel tonight? What made your mum pick up the phone?”
 
She heard him give a big sigh when she didn’t respond.
 
“It is a test, Buffy. And one you’ll probably do fine... if the Council of Wankers wants you to.  If they don’t, then you’ll be facing something hard to kill, and you’ll have been weakened somehow. You won’t be facing it with all your powers. Maybe none of them. The test is meant to weed out any slayers too dim-witted and incompetent to survive.... or any slayers they want to get shed of.” When she still didn’t reply, he continued, “Know you don’t fall into that first category, don’t we?”
 
Buffy stared at the phone, willing herself to believe he was lying.
 
“Buffy? Slayer? Are you there? Talk to me, love.”
 
“Does Angel know this?”
 
The snarl coming through the phone made her flinch. “Of course your bloody perfect Angel knows it! It’s common knowledge among vamps and demons. Good way to earn the right to claim you’ve offed a slayer if you can get the gig to do an easy one.”
 
“Easy? Is that how you did it?”
 
“No, Buffy.” She felt rather than heard his growl. “You of all people should know better. I wanted to fight slayers. Good ones. Not girls so scared or incompetent that they’d have been easy even if they weren’t crippled.”
 
“Crippled?”
 
“You’re not at 100%, Slayer. If you stop being so bloody stubborn and mad at me for talkin’ to your mum and not you, you’ll admit it to yourself.  I don’t know what your wanker of a watcher has done to you to slow you down, but know it’s something. And if the Council wants you out of the way, they’re gonna be putting you up against something that’s hard to handle.  If it’s just the usual too dumb to exist fledge, you’ll probably be okay without help, but let’s not test that theory, alright? Wait for me, Buffy. Let me help you.” When she didn’t respond, he added, “Please?”
 
“What if you aren’t here yet when I have to go... wherever I have to go?”
 
“Wait for me. Don’t go anywhere with your watcher.”
 
“He’s taking Mom and me out to dinner for my birthday tomorrow night. But that’ll be okay. We’ll be in public. They aren’t going to sic a vampire on me in a fancy restaurant.”
 
“Alright. That’s probably safe. Can’t imagine they’d do anything with your mum there.  Just be sure he brings you home straight away. I’ll be waiting for you at your house. If I can’t get there tonight, which is my first choice.”
 
“And then what?”
 
“Dunno. Guess we’ll play it by ear. Soon’s you know I’m where I can provide back up muscle if you need it, you can go along with whatever your watcher wants to do. If I think you’re in trouble—”
 
“If I think I’m in trouble, I’ll say so.”
 
“Just be sure you don’t need to say it till I’m where I can hear you, Buffy.”
 
“Fine.”
 
“Good night, love. I’ll see you later – either tonight or tomorrow.”
 
“Night.”  Buffy put the phone down and nodded as Joyce handed her an ice pack.  “Thanks.”
 
“You’re welcome. What did he say?”
 
Buffy sighed and went back to the couch. 
 
“He said that Giles has been doing something to me to make me weak when I have to fight whatever vamp the Council is sending me to slay. And that how hard it will be to slay depends on whether the Council wants me to stay the slayer, or die so another one will be called.”
 
“Rupert’s been drugging you?” Joyce leaped to her feet. “I’m going to kill that son of a bitch!”
 
“Sit down, Mom. I don’t want you going out without me, and I don’t feel much like fighting anymore tonight.  We can yell at Giles tomorrow night when he takes us out to dinner. Maybe if he knows I know, he can call it off.”
 
Joyce sat back down, but the expression on her face didn’t bode well for it being a pleasant birthday dinner.  After a short while, she said, “I heard you ask Spike if Angel knows about this. What did he say?”
 
“He said all vampires know about it. They know it’s their best chance to kill a slayer – when she’s lost her powers.”
 
“And why isn’t your ‘boyfriend’—” Joyce made no attempt to hide the contempt in her voice. “—doing something about this. Why isn’t Angel helping you?”
 
“A very good question, Mom,” Buffy said with a weary shrug. “But he didn’t help me when the Master tried to kill me either. He’s old and he just thinks everything has to be done according to the rules.”
 
“Apparently Spike doesn’t share that view.”
 
Buffy snorted her amusement. “I think you could say that. Spike’s not much for rules. Which is a good thing, I guess,” she added, thinking back to her interactions with him the previous year.  “If he was a typical vamp, the Council probably wouldn’t have to be worrying about my Cruciamentum. He’d have had me by Halloween last year.”
 
She flushed, regretting her words, even though she knew Joyce would have no idea why “had” and Halloween in the same sentence made Buffy blush. Instead, Joyce focused on the implication.
 
“You mean Spike might have... killed you? When?”
 
“Don’t you remember hitting him with that fire axe at Back to School Night?” Buffy smirked at her mother’s expression.
 
“That was Spike?”
 
“Yep. That was the first... no make that second... time we met. It was the first time we fought. He almost won that one.”
 
“If I hadn’t hit him....” Joyce looked like she was going to be sick. 
 
“It’s okay, Mom. I wasn’t planning to just lay there and let him whack me with that board. I probably would have gotten away – or he might have forgotten what he was doing,” she added with a giggle, remembering what Spike had told her happened every time they fought.  “But you did just the right thing, at the right time, so go Mom.” 
 
“Go me,” Joyce agreed weakly. “I had no idea....”
 
“Mom,” Buffy said softly, “you have no idea about a lot of the stuff that happens because I’m the Slayer. I don’t tell you because I don’t want you to worry any more than you already do.  I’m sorry Spike told you about this thing, whatever it is.”
 
“I’m not. If he hadn’t told me, and I didn’t call him, you’d be going into it without knowing what to expect... and without any....” Her voice trailed off.
 
“Any backup muscle. That’s what Spike says he is. If I can handle the vamp, even without my powers, he’ll let me. But if I get into trouble, he’ll be there.”
 
“Are your powers all gone?”
 
“Not entirely, but no way should that vamp tonight have been able to hit me that hard or hurt me like that. I staked him, but it was touch and go for a few seconds.”
 
“I’m going to kill Rupert,” Joyce repeated, her mouth set in a grim line. “And I don’t want you anywhere near him until he picks us up tomorrow night.”
 
“I’m supposed to do more of that meditation stuff—dammit! That must be how he’s doing it! While he’s got me in a trance, he must be doing something that’s taking away my powers.”  She narrowed her eyes at her mother.  “You can’t kill him until after I beat him to a pulp.”  Her anger faded and she raised tear-filled eyes. “How could he do this to me?  I thought he loved... he treats me like a daughter. How could he set me up like this?”
 
“I’m sorry, honey.” Joyce moved to the couch and put her arm around Buffy. “It’s a cruel thing for him to do to you. I’m not sure if that doesn’t make me angrier than the fact that it’s putting you in danger.”  She squeezed Buffy’s shoulder. “I’m going to pick you up after school tomorrow, okay? That way you won’t have to go to him and he can’t weaken you anymore than he already has.”
 
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll just tell him we have somewhere to go that’s really important and we’ll see him for dinner.” Buffy stretched and stood up. “I’m going to go bed now. I’m still not getting enough sleep. I’ll put this away.” She waved the icepack and walked into the kitchen, only to find Angel peering in the door window.
 
“What the....” She dropped the icepack and walked to the door, opening it just far enough to talk. “What do you want, Angel? I was just getting ready to go to bed.”
 
“I just wanted to... to see you.” He gazed at her with soulful eyes. “I know tomorrow’s your birthday, and I probably won’t get to see you to wish you a happy birthday, so I thought I’d come by tonight.” He waited expectantly, and Buffy sighed as she realized he was expecting her to invite him in. She shook her head.
 
“That’s nice,” she said, forcing more of a smile than she felt like giving him. “But I’m really tired for some reason...” She suddenly had no desire to tell him she knew more about what was going on than he thought she did. “I need to get my sleep so I’m all perky for my birthday tomorrow and whatever vamp the Council throws at me.”
 
“Oh, right. I forgot you knew about that.” He shook his head. “I still don’t understand how you found out about it, but as long as you.... It probably doesn’t matter. You’ll be fine. Even—I mean, you’re the Slayer. You’ll slay, and it will all be over.”
 
“Yep. That’s the plan. I’ll tell you all about when it’s over.”
 
“All right. Sure. You’ll tell me about it. That’s... that’s a good plan.  I’ll just say goodnight, then.” He waited expectantly.
 
“Goodnight, Angel,” she replied, closing the door in his face with no urge to give him the goodnight peck she knew he was expecting.  She turned around to find Joyce standing there.
 
“Was that who I think it was?”
 
“Yeah. He came to wish me happy birthday since he’s not invited to the dinner tomorrow.”
 
“He’s not invited into this house either,” Joyce muttered, then her eyes widened. “Is he?”
 
“No, relax, Mom. I never reinstated his invitation after.... Angelus. I think that’s safer, now that we know the soul can be so easily... lost.”
 
Buffy had no idea if Joyce had ever figured out that Buffy was the reason Angel had lost his soul, although he had made sure to let Joyce know that he’d had sex with her just-turned-seventeen-year-old-daughter.  That fact, and the fact that, thanks to Spike, Buffy was already not a virgin when it happened, were among the things related to being the Slayer that Buffy had not felt a need to share with her mother.
 
“I’m off to bed. Night, Mom.” Buffy gave Joyce a hug and ran upstairs.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
<<     >>