Resolutions

You might think I’m being a bit hard on Willow in this chapter. That’s probably because I am. I’m sorry if you really like her, but I became increasingly disenchanted with the character in season 6, and then in season 7 suddenly all the Bad Things she had done were forgiven and she was ‘Good Old Willow’ again. When I compared this with the way Spike was treated, as they refused to forgive him despite the fact that his ‘sin’ was committed without a soul to guide him and wasn’t nearly as serious as Willow’s, I started downright disliking her. The Scoobies always seemed to get away with their bad behaviour while everyone else had to pay the price. I decided that as I had the perfect opportunity, some of Willow’s ‘sins’ would come back and bite her on the bum.


Chapter 11


There had been hugging. He had gladly participated.


There had been crying. If he had been compelled under a truth spell he might have been forced reluctantly to admit to having shed a few manly tears himself.


There had also been squealing, laughing and jumping up and down on the spot. At that point he had backed away in alarm and sat back down on the couch, spreading his arms along the back either side of him. He adamantly refused to participate in such girlish activities although he smiled indulgently at the girls’ antics.


The thing that totally freaked him out was the simultaneous squealing, laughing, crying, hugging and jumping up and down on the spot. He was sure it had to be breaking at least two fundamental laws of time and space, but the Summers’ sisters managed the feat effortlessly.


Except that it wouldn’t be technically correct to call them that any more, would it?


Eventually the squealing and bobbing about stopped and the tears were blotted away to the accompaniment of embarrassed giggles. Heaving a huge sigh, Buffy sank onto the couch beside him then Dawn landed at his other side. Moving of their own accord, his arms went around their shoulders to hold them close to him.


His girls.


Their heads rested on his chest as they met each other’s eyes and clasped hands in his lap. Dawn quietly sighed the word that changed everything, “Family.”


“Yeah…” After a pause Buffy asked hesitantly, “Everybody happy?”


Another big sigh. “Oh yeah…”


Spike found that his throat was unaccountably constricted preventing him from speaking, so he simply dropped one kiss on the golden blonde head and one on the silky brunette and gave each shoulder a gentle squeeze.


With a little giggle Dawn addressed Buffy, “He’s gonna totally go O.T.T. with this isn’t he?”


“Yooou betcha!”


“Oh God. He’s gonna be even more overprotective now isn’t he?”


“Oh ya. And you’re so totally gonna love it.”


“Oh ya.”


Both girls dissolved into giggles once more. Spike had the vague feeling they were poking fun at him, but he couldn’t quite see the joke.


The three of them sat there quietly for a few minutes, simply allowing the world to shift around them and reform into their new reality.


Spike closed his eyes and tried to come to terms with the fact that his unlife had just taken yet another sharp turn that he could never have expected in his wildest dreams. And as he freely admitted to himself, his dreams could get pretty wild. He didn’t know what, if anything, he had done to deserve such a bounty of blessings, but he gave silent thanks to a bunch of dead monks anyway.


He then realised with a sense of immense satisfaction that for the first time he’d done something special first. This time Angel had imitated him. Although he hadn’t know it at the time he had acquired a daughter over a year before Angel’s son had been born. He mentally rubbed his hands together in glee. He now had some perfect gloating material ready for their next meeting.


Eventually he found his voice. He gently asked, “Is this what’s had you so worried, Niblet? Has it worked out the way you hoped?”


The teen stiffened in surprise, shrugged his arm off to sit up straight, looked at him then turned her eyes away and nonchalantly asked, “What do you mean?”


“I’m not blind, Bit. I know something big’s been bothering you.”


She shrugged. “Well… partly this I guess…” She suddenly grasped his free hand between both of hers and squeezed reassuringly, “…and this bit couldn’t have worked out better, you get that, right? Even though I’m never going to call you dad.”


As Spike relaxed, his main fear dispelled, Buffy asked anxiously, “So what’s the big problem, Dawnie?”


Another little shrug, this time with a matching sigh to go with it. “It’s just…” She took a deep breath. “There is something I’ve been… but I think I need to tell everyone at the same time so I don’t have to explain more than once. Is that okay? Can you wait a little longer?”


Buffy nodded and stood, reaching out a hand each to Spike and Dawn to help pull them up. “Come on then, let’s go break the news.”


Dawn bent and retrieved the letter from where it had fallen unnoticed to the floor, smoothed it out and handed it to Buffy who tucked it into a pocket. “Can I tell them? It is about me, after all.”


Giles and Anya were behind the counter next to the computer having a spirited discussion while the others were all sitting around the table chatting, but the moment the door opened the shop fell silent and all eyes turned towards the trio emerging from the training room.


Under his breath Xander sing-songed, “Who da daddy…?”


Dawn grasped Buffy’s hand on one side and Spike’s on the other. She took one step ahead of them and took a deep breath. Grinning from ear to ear she began, “Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like to introduce…” She raised the hand holding Buffy’s and announced, “My mother, Buffy Anne Summers.”


When the room filled with loud exclamations and questions Dawn scowled and stamped her foot, glaring around until her audience was quiet again.


At last, with a teasing smirk she raised the hand clutching Spike’s, “And I know you’re all going to share my delight to learn that this… this is my father, Spike!”


Xander’s head met the research table with a dull thud. He muttered, “I knew it. I can’t believe I was the one who suggested it. It’s all my fault…”


Smiling widely, Willow patted his back murmuring insincerely, “There, there.”


Spike moved so that he was between his girls and draped his arms around their shoulders possessively. He stood tall and proud, unable to keep a silly grin from splitting his face.


It was at least half an hour before the meeting was brought to order. Dawn and Buffy, of course, were the centre of attention but Giles had shaken hands with him and given him a nod in recognition of his new status, expressing considerable relief tempered with a seasoning of disappointment that his own DNA hadn’t proved a match.


He also quietly raised a point that none of them had considered earlier. “It occurred to me while we were waiting for the results of the tests, that the monks might have used the DNA of one of their number to combine with Buffy’s.” Seeing Spike’s horrified expression he hastily added, “I am relieved to find that it’s not the case.”


Willow and Tara had each hugged him, Althanea had patted him on the shoulder and kissed him on the cheek and Anya had bluntly congratulated him upon becoming a father.


The only person who hadn’t spoken to him was Xander Harris. He had spent the time teasing Dawn about being Slayerspawn and making tasteless jokes about Buffy being an unwed teenage mother.


Once they’d all settled down again, this time with Spike sitting on one of the benches at the table with Buffy and Dawn sitting either side of him still linking hands across his lap, Giles returned to his place by the counter and predictably took his glasses off for a polish.


He took a deliberate breath as if to speak but before he could, Dawn hesitantly said, “Giles? Can I…?”


Giles slipped his glasses back on and peered at the teenager. “Yes, Dawn. I haven’t forgotten you expressed a wish to discuss something important, but before we get to you, there’s something I need to…” He turned to Buffy. “I’m impressed by the work you’ve put into the Handbook, Buffy…” Seeing Spike’s raised eyebrow he conceded, “…and Spike, of course… But I can’t help wondering whether it’s wise to make any mention of Claims. We wouldn’t want impressionable young girls to…”


Buffy interrupted him. “It’s vital they know about Claims, Giles. They have to be prepared!”


“But Buffy… it’s most unlikely they’d…”


“What? Be bitten? Giles, the Slayer is the one person in the world most at risk of being bitten by a vampire and surviving the experience. Kinda an occupational hazard, ya know?” She unconsciously brushed her fingers over her Claim scar. “Look at it like this… What would have happened if instead of just biting me until I passed out and then dumping me into a puddle of water to drown, The Master had Claimed me? Can you imagine how powerful he could have become if he’d had a biddable Slayer under his control when he opened the Hellmouth, instead of a truly pissed off Slayer out to dust him?”


Before the Watcher could answer Buffy continued, “And now we know Angel did Claim me. If we’d known at the time, everything that came after would have been so different.”


Once more she carried straight on, preventing Giles from responding. As she spoke, the highly mobile spectacles were off yet again and Giles pinched the bridge of his nose then massaged his temples as if warding off a migraine. “And then Dracula... What if he had decided to Claim me instead of just tasting me? He told me I’d have eternity to discover myself, so I think it’s pretty clear he was intending to turn me. If he’d put a Controlling Claim on me I wouldn’t have been able to fight back the way I did once I’d managed to break the thrall.” She set her chin stubbornly and insisted, “A newbie Slayer has to have Claims explained in full, Giles! Both the dangers and the possible benefits.”


Giles looked up, blinked and replaced his glasses on his nose. He nodded and in a resigned tone conceded, “I see your point. I bow to your superior logic, Buffy.”


The Slayer grinned widely. Logic? I have logic now? Go me!” She turned to her friends, giggling, “Hey, Will! Tara! I have superior logic!”


As the girls chuckled together, Anya exclaimed, “I told him he couldn’t cut that section out, but would he believe me?” She sniffed and deliberately turned away from the Watcher. “Stubborn secretive Watcher mentality…” she muttered just loud enough to be heard.


Jealous at the recounting of the catalogue of vampires who had a taste of his Slayer before him, Spike pleaded, “Tell me you dusted the randy old Europoser after he tasted you?”


“Oh yeah. Several times actually. He kept doing that thing where his dust came back together…”


“But you did douse his dust with Holy Water or scatter it on running water, didn’t you?” When Buffy frowned at him in confusion he hesitantly asked, “You did know that was the only way to get ‘round his gypsy magic…? Tell me you didn’t let the old bat get away again…”


When Buffy gave a guilty shrug, Spike rolled his eyes and sighed, “Bugger.”


In an irritated tone Giles asked “Oh, for Heaven’s sake, Spike. Why didn’t you tell us this at the time?”


“Well, nobody asked me, did they? I supposed the Almighty Omniscient Watcher would have researched all the relevant facts! I told Cardboard to go watch over the Slayer when he told me Drac was in town and gunning for her. He was so intent on going all Lone Ranger and hunting Count Corny down himself he clearly didn’t, as he got to her anyway. As you might remember I wasn’t exactly in the Slayer’s loop at the time.” Then he brightened up and commented, “Ah well, it just means I’ve still got a chance of running into him one day and getting what he owes me. I wonder what the compound interest is on eleven quid over eighty odd years…”


Anya’s sotto voce maundering about variable interest rates and the general wild speculation about how much money Dracula now owed Spike was cut short by Giles’ impatient. “If we could please get back on track…”


When all fell quiet he continued, “Before I proceed to the final item on my agenda…” He held a hand out in invitation. “Dawn… You had something you wanted to raise before the group…”


Suddenly self-conscious, Dawn flushed as she retrieved a bright purple file folder from a bag tucked under the table and stood up. Looking around at all the expectant expressions facing her she took a deep breath and began, “For thousands of years… heck, maybe millions of years for all we know… there was a blob of swirly green Key energy. Nobody can remember who devised the Key or when or how it was formed, but it was passed around and used from time to time by those who knew how. Then one day a pair of Hellgods banished their power-hungry sister from their own dimension and trapped her here in ours. At that time the Key was in the custody of an order of monks whose primary purpose was to guard it from the forces of evil. The monks knew their defences weren’t strong enough to protect the Key, or even themselves, from the power of a Hellgod, so they hatched their plan to turn it into a human… me… and pass it on to another, more capable protector. They stole their tissue samples, created me and started working on the magics required to insert me into Buffy’s life. Last year Glory located the Key at last and in desperation the last few surviving monks did the final incantation to complete the spell to change everyone’s memories, set the scene and send me to Buffy.”


She opened the folder. “As some of you know, for the past few weeks I’ve been researching… well… me. I started with the prophecy that Giles found and the book that Wesley’s dad sent us, and then I began investigating in the Council’s archives...”


Giles started. “You did what?”


Dawn rolled her eyes. “You do remember giving Spike the computer with your Council password so he could rewrite the Handbook? I just used it when he wasn’t about. It was easy to do a search on ‘The Key’ and I was surprised at just how much has been written about me through the centuries.”


Buffy protested in bewilderment, “But… but last year Giles couldn’t find anything…”


Dawn shook her head. “But Giles wasn’t doing the research in the Council archives himself, remember? He was relying on the Council tweedies to let him know what was there. And they weren’t looking for information about The Key, they were only interested in Glorificus!”


She turned to address her sister’s Watcher. “I was chatting with Arthur in records…”


“Arthur? Do you mean young Fortescue? How on earth…?”


“Well, not chatting chatting. IM-ing. He thought I was you, of course as I was using your password… he was most impressed by your grasp of the technology involved, by the way.” She diplomatically ignored Giles’ helpless spluttering and continued, “Anyway… Arthur consulted the record of who had requested which documents back then and he said the Council wankers never even asked for anything specifically about The Key!”


Over a half-hearted protest from Buffy about her language Dawn continued, “Arthur was very helpful. He guided me to the right sections to search and even scanned a couple of scrolls for me that hadn’t already been uploaded into the database. Then with Nathan’s help I got busy with the translations and collating all the data…”


This time it was Spike who interrupted. “Nathan? What do you mean Nathan helped you?” His voice rose in anger. “What did I tell you about getting close to vampires that aren’t me, young lady? When did you…?”


Dawn rolled her eyes again. “But Nathan likes me! I know he wouldn’t hurt…”


“Uh, actually that was my idea, Spike.” The vampire’s accusing glare was redirected towards the Watcher. “Young Nathan was at a bit of a loose end so I suggested he could possibly be of some help with Dawn’s project…”


“Giles! I can’t believe you’d…” Buffy’s voice was shrill with horrified disbelief.


“Well really, Buffy. I’m not a complete idiot, you know! I made sure that while Dawn was working in the house Nathan stayed outside on the deck! I set up a little mechanism for them to pass documents back and forth without the need for them to make contact and they only communicated through the screen door. I may have faith in his academic credentials, but I never forget he’s a soulless chipless vampire who has yet to prove himself to my satisfaction! While I am comfortable working with him as long as I have a stake handy, he has no invitation into my home and that situation is not likely to change.”


Dawn’s foot was tapping impatiently by the time she was able to resume her presentation. She glanced down at her notes and declared smugly, “The first thing I discovered, Giles, is that you made a mistake in the translation of the prophecy.”


Giles humphed and took his glasses off, scowling sulkily at the teenager.


Trying not very successfully to suppress a triumphant smirk, Dawn turned to Buffy. “You’ve been told you’re ‘The Holder of the Key’, Buffy. You aren’t.”


“Huh?”


“In the context it was used, the word should be translated as ‘Keeper’, not ‘Holder’. You’re ‘The Keeper of the Key’, which when you think about it makes a lot more sense ‘cos you keep me while Spike protects me.”


Buffy mouthed the words ‘Keeper of the Key’ and nodded appreciatively. “Yup, I like it.”


“Now then... Giles, in the little green book it says that once the Key has been transformed into human form and the prophecy has been activated, its status will become permanent and untransmutable. What did you interpret that as meaning?”


Giles stated confidently, “Uh, well that’s really quite simple, Dawn. That means that whereas up until now the Key energy could have been moulded into a series of any number of shapes such as a table lamp… an oak tree… a bicycle pump, well... anything really… you are now safe. You cannot be changed into any other form.”


“So if the form is permanent but the energy is ageless, what’s going to happen to the energy when Dawn dies? Will it go into another human being or what?” Anya’s artless question started Giles clearing his throat nervously.


“’Cos energy can be transformed from one type of energy to another, but it can’t be either created or destroyed.” Willow added thoughtfully as she came to understand the point behind Anya’s question. “That’s the first Law of Thermodynamics.”


“Uh, well that part isn’t entirely clear as yet…”


Dawn rolled her eyes yet again. “Yes it is. I wondered why you hadn’t said anything, but you obviously haven’t seen the Pardubice Codex.” She flipped through her file folder, unclipped a couple of pages and passed them over to the Watcher, commenting, “The text in blue is the relevant passage transcribed in the original Czech, the red is our translation and notes.”


While Giles was reading, Dawn chewed her lip and shifted from foot to foot anxiously. Buffy reached out and stroked her arm reassuringly and received a nervous smile in exchange. “I don’t know whether I want to be right or not,” the teenager breathed. “If I’m wrong it just means I’m a crap researcher, but if I’m right…” She took a deep shuddering breath. “If I’m right it’s really, really scary.”


Nudging Spike over to make room, Buffy drew Dawn down to sit between them and combed her hair back from her face with her fingers. She whispered, “What is it, Dawnie? What’s got you so wigged?”


“I’m not saying anything until Giles says whether I’ve got it right. I don’t want to jinx myself…”


Giles muttered, “Oh dear Lord…” sighed, removed his spectacles and pinched the bridge of his nose. “How certain of this translation are you, Dawn?”


“Well I’m not exactly fluent in the Czech language and neither is Nathan, but I found this online dictionary…”


“An online dic…? Yes of course you did. How silly of me.”


“So do you think I’ve got it right? Am I…?”


“Not so fast, my dear. I think I should… Yes… Before I… Uh… Just a moment while I… I wonder if…”


Giles’ muttering became more and more vague as he wandered off into the corner of the shop behind the counter and picked up the phone. Everyone exchanged confused glances as Giles dialled a multi-digit number and waited, impatiently tapping his teeth with the arm of his spectacles. Eventually he gained a response, his glasses went back on and he abruptly blurted out, “Templeton, old man. Giles here. Tell me, is Ostermann still the Council’s man in Prague and if so what’s his number?”


He went quiet for a few moments then clucked his tongue against his teeth. “No, Templeton, I didn’t realise it was Sunday morning there and I haven’t the vaguest notion what the bloody time is.” Another brief pause and he irritably blurted out, “I couldn’t care less, man. The sooner you give me the bloody number, the sooner you can get back to sleep.”


After another pause he nodded absently and hurriedly scribbled down a string of numbers, finally speaking a bit more politely, “Yes, I’ve got it. Thank you Templeton, and I’m sorry for disturbing your Sunday morning lie-in. Good-bye.”


He immediately began dialling again, unaware that everyone in the shop behind him was eagerly observing his every movement and hanging on his every word.


“Ostermann, old chap. Giles here. I have a quick translation job for you.” He shook his head, then nodded. “No… well yes. I had intended to return to England permanently, but something came up urgently requiring my presence here in Sunnydale and my plans had to change. Now it looks as if I shall be staying on indefinitely…” He glanced absently over his shoulder at Buffy and smiled proudly. “Yes, she’s still going strong. She just turned twenty-one a few months ago.”


He turned back to the papers on the counter and in a calm businesslike manner proceeded to read out a series of odd harsh-sounding words, occasionally describing weird shaped accents or clarifying unlikely spellings.


While Giles nodded and wrote and occasionally murmured phrases such as, “Oh dear Lord”, “Yes, I’ve got that,” or “Are you sure about that?”, the only sound disturbing the shop was the clicking of Althanea’s knitting needles and the occasional impatient sigh or speculative whisper from the waiting group. At last the phone was replaced and Giles looked up to see all eyes upon him.


He regarded Dawn thoughtfully and cleared his throat. “Uh… it would appear that your translation is essentially correct, Dawn.”


“Oh God.” The teenager slumped in her seat. “I thought… I mean I wondered… Oh my God.”


“So what is this party bitchy Codex all about then, Giles?” Buffy asked as she wrapped her arms protectively around her stunned sister.


The Watcher gently asked, “Would you like me to explain, Dawn?” On receiving a grateful nod he smoothed the pages out on the counter beside him and began, “It seems that Dawn has found a description of what she might expect in the future while she carries within her the energy of The Key.”


“Lots of portal goodness, yeah?” prompted Xander hopefully. “Not so much fun with the constant cutting of the hand, but apart from that she’s just an regular girl, yeah?”


“Regular girl? Can you really expect the child of a Master Vampire and a Slayer to be anything other than uniquely special?” Anya’s tone was scathing as she dismissed the young man’s optimistic suggestion.


Dawn shrugged and reluctantly agreed with a subdued, “Not so much with the regular here…” She glanced sideways at her sister and murmured apologetically, “Seems I’m kinda immortal.”


Buffy gaped for a second then, “Huh?”


“Um…” Dawn gestured towards the papers Giles was fiddling with on the counter. “It kinda says that the energy will pass to my first child and until then I’m ageless and almost unkillable.”


“At the risk of sounding completely blonde, I say again… Huh?”


Giles cleared his throat again and took up the explanation. “As Anya has pointed out, the Key energy is ageless. If this document is to be believed, Dawn would appear to share this property in as much as once she reaches maturity she will cease to age. She will then retain the appearance of a young woman until the power is transferred to her firstborn child upon their maturity. From that point onwards she would begin to age normally and presumably one day she could expect to die a natural death.”


The Magic Box filled with loud questions, comments and wild speculation.


Anya suggested helpfully, “If I were you, Dawn, I’d be extremely picky about who to choose to father my children, and I’d wait a good long time before having them.”


Tara mused, “I wonder what they mean by maturity. In some cultures you’re considered mature at puberty, in others it’s eighteen, or twenty-one or even twenty-five…”


Buffy was more interested in a different part of the revelation. “What does it mean, she’s ‘almost unkillable’? Oh my God! Would Dawn really have died if she had been drained by Glory? Did I need to jump? Oh God! Did either of us need to die at all?”


Spike was supremely aware of the shocked trembling of the teenager beside him and wrapping an arm around her and Buffy’s shoulders he broke through the chatter to challenge the Watcher’s assertion, “You’re just gonna swallow all this as indisputable fact then, Watcher? Could just be the ramblings of some old lunatic, you know. Where’s the finicky Watcher we all know and er… know, who always checks, double checks and then rechecks again before accepting something like this?”


A prolonged piercing whistle prompted everybody to fall silent and gaze at Althanea in astonishment. When she was sure that she had everyone’s attention she said softly, “Perhaps we should let Ripper finish his explanation…?”


“Thank you Althanea.” Giles regarded Dawn anxiously. “Are you quite all right, Dawn. Would you perhaps prefer to take a break and continue this later?”


The teenager sat up straight and took a deep breath, shaking her head. “No, it’s okay, Giles. I mean, I kinda had some time to get used to the idea once we translated it, but there was always the chance we had it wrong. I guess I was clinging to that. Now I know I was right it’s kind of a relief to be able to stop wondering. I’d rather get it all over with now if that’s okay.”


“As you wish. Now then… to answer some of your questions…” He pointed to Spike. “I shall certainly be checking the authenticity of the original document, but since the Codex originates in Pardubice, which is the capital of the region where the monastery of the monks of Dagon stood until Glory demolished it, there is a strong likelihood that it is genuine.”


He indicated Tara. “I should imagine that the ‘maturity’ the document refers to is probably the age of twenty-one which was the most common age of majority in times past, although in Dawn’s case whether that means her apparent age or her actual age from when she was created...” He shrugged his ignorance.


He regarded Buffy sympathetically. “The document does specify several ways it would be possible to kill ‘The Key’, Buffy. One of them is to totally drain the blood from it’s human body…”


Buffy sighed in relief that she hadn’t got it all wrong the year before. “So Glory’s ritual would have killed her…”


“Yes. The Key energy would all have flowed out of her with her blood, the portal would have kept growing until Dawn was completely drained and as the text we found stated; Glory’s ritual using all the Key power at once would have broken down all the barriers between all the dimensions. Dawn would indeed have died once all the Key power had left her body.”


“Makes sense… ‘cos if the energy is contained within her blood...” Willow mused.


Xander scowled at Spike and muttered darkly, “Yeah, yeah. We know… ‘It’s always about the blood’.”


Clucking his tongue against his teeth impatiently at the interruptions, Giles continued, “As far as I can make out, Dawn can’t die of normal human sickness but there are ways she can die apart from the total loss of blood. It’s certain that if she is beheaded or stabbed through the heart she won’t survive and there may be other things too. If any of these should occur without the appropriate ritual to harness the Key energy in her blood, it would be released in one massive burst to resume its existence as its original form of a ball of green energy.”


“And I’m guessing this wouldn’t be a good thing…?” Asked Willow hesitantly.


“A sudden release of massive amounts of energy is never a good thing…” Giles scowled down at the paper in front of him. “If I could somewhat update the primitive analogy written here, it seems we would be facing an explosion similar in intensity to that of an atomic bomb.”


There was a stunned silence for a few seconds until Dawn semi-jokingly complained, “Oh God. I’m gonna be wrapped in cotton wool for centuries, aren’t I? It’s so not fair! It’s so totally not my fault the stupid monks turned me into a freaking walking bomb!”


A frisson of fear shot through Spike and he was hard put to distinguish whether it was Buffy’s or his own. They exchanged meaningful looks behind Dawn, silently sharing their resolve to have a serious discussion later. They’d started out by taking their task of protecting Dawn seriously but they’d become complacent when there had been no attacks since LA. They belatedly acknowledged they couldn’t expect the lull to last indefinitely.


Over the increasing volume of chatter Giles added, “And I feel I must echo Anya’s excellent advice, Dawn, to think very carefully before having children and to select their father with great care. You will need to choose someone special, someone who is familiar with the supernatural. You’ll need a strong partner capable of helping you deal with the unique issues regarding your firstborn.”


At first, Giles waited patiently for the excited clamouring to die down so he could resume the meeting but it soon became clear that Dawn’s discoveries were claiming everyone’s attention to the exclusion of all else.


Eventually he approached Althanea and quietly asked, “Everyone’s a bit distracted. Do you think we should postpone our revelations? I don’t know whether it would be wise to raise another potentially emotional issue until they’ve had a chance to absorb the ramifications of Dawn’s news. Perhaps it would be better to reconvene tomorrow?”


Althanea looked around and smiled, “Oh… I think they can take it. These children of yours, Ripper… you should be proud of them. They’re so strong.”


“Oh I am proud of them, believe me. But I feel I have to reiterate my reservations. I’m still not certain we should announce it in front of the whole group. I really think we should take Buffy aside and tell her…”


“Tell me what?”


Althanea glanced at Buffy but answered the Watcher who was flustered at having been overheard. “They were all involved, Ripper, either before or after the fact. They all need to be fully aware of exactly what they did and the long-range consequences of their actions.”


The sudden tension between Watcher, Slayer and Wiccan transmitted itself around the shop floor and gradually people began falling silent and rearranging themselves in preparation for finding out what was going on.


As he passed Tara on his way to Buffy’s side, Spike teasingly whispered in her ear, “So how’s the luscious Tanya then?”


Tara looked sharply up at him and flushed. She glanced warily over to where Willow was looking extremely apprehensive as she obeyed Althanea’s gesture to take the seat next to her, and whispered back, “We’ve had coffee a few times and had lunch together in the cafeteria once… but…” She shrugged uncertainly.


“Not the girl for you?”


“I don’t know. She’s just coming out of a painful break-up too. We’ve decided to keep it just friends… for now, at least. I don’t think either of us is really ready…”


Spike nodded. “Whatever you think best, pet. Just want to see you happy.”


Once everyone had settled down, Giles addressed the group again. “I know there have already been a lot of surprises this evening, but I’m afraid it’s necessary that I should add more.” He gestured towards Willow and Althanea. “Partly to complement Willow’s training and partly because of Buffy’s request, the three of us have been looking into the resurrection spell that brought Buffy back.”


Tara, Xander and Anya exchanged guilty looks, but Willow avoided meeting anyone’s eyes and began twisting her hands anxiously in the fabric of her skirt.


“Willow already knows of our findings and has accepted our recommendations, but as the issues affect the whole group we feel it’s necessary to share them with you.”


Willow clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a sob but Giles didn’t react.


He addressed the group in general, “As has happened countless times to a series of young potential Slayers through the centuries, when she was Called, the standard allowance of Slayer essence was released into Buffy’s system to bless her with her enhanced abilities. We have since deduced that when Xander revived her after the Master killed her she was ‘re-Called’, so to speak, and received a second dose, which is why she felt different, stronger in the ensuing fight. Then last year in the resurrection spell, rather than calling for ‘Buffy Summers’ Willow specifically worded her incantation to demand the return of ‘The Warrior of the People’.”


Buffy murmured in resigned acknowledgement. “So I have got a triple dose of Slayerness.”


“Yes, my dear girl. You are still human, but now your humanity is enhanced with so much Slayer demon essence that your constitution has sufficiently departed from the norm that it was able to confuse Spike’s chip.” Giles turned to Tara. “That is what you diagnosed as a ‘cellular suntan’, Tara.” The blonde Wiccan nodded in understanding.


Dawn abruptly blurted out, “I wonder if I’d have registered as human on Spike’s chip?”


Giles raised a quizzical eyebrow at Spike, who was forced to shrug his ignorance. “Never tried to hurt Dawn, Watcher. No idea if the chip would have worked on her or not.”


Buffy stroked her sister’s hair and gently asked, “Does it really matter? You know who you are now. You’re both the child of a Slayer and a vampire, and an interdimensional Key. Even if the chip didn’t work on you we’d never be able to tell which was the deciding factor.”


Dawn shrugged and sighed sulkily. “I guess…”


Giles removed his glasses for a polish and continued grimly, “Unfortunately, that and the Thaumogenic demon that Buffy dealt with were not the only unintended consequences of the resurrection spell.”


Replacing his glasses once more he continued into a tense silence, “As a result of an unfortunate interruption at a critical moment, the urn of Osiris was smashed and in the ensuing confusion Willow was unable to formally end the spell and give thanks, a fact that we didn’t discover until Willow performed the purification ritual Althanea devised for her.”


Xander nodded and muttered ironically, “Yeah, unfortunate interruption. More commonly known as the Buffybot leading a pack of ugly ass homicidal demons on motorcycles right to us, followed by much screaming, panicking, running, getting hopelessly lost in the woods and fighting for our lives.”


Scowling at the interruption, Giles went on, “Willow has admitted that during the uh… extraordinary events of the following hours and days, she never gave another thought to the fact that the spell had not been correctly rounded off. At first because she thought it hadn’t worked, and then later because it became so clearly evident that it had.” He absently gestured at Buffy.


Anya’s eyebrows rose so high they almost disappeared into her hair. In a shrill accusing tone she challenged Willow, “You never went back to close out the spell? What were you thinking? I thought that was what you were doing, that was why it had taken you so long to get Xander back to the store! That was a mighty powerful spell! Didn’t you realise that the magic would continue to channel through you until you had?”


Willow slumped lower in her seat and helplessly shook her head.


Althanea answered for her. “As I have learned, Willow’s lack of formal training and her habit of impulsively extemporising spells – carelessly substituting components, altering, combining or even drafting her own incantations without sufficient preparation – have caused quite a few unintended magical effects over the past few years. This is one instance, however, when the consequences were more serious than most. Her failure to complete the spell allowed the magic to continue to run through her body for months. This generated a feeling of euphoria whenever she used her power, contributing quite significantly to her problems with controlling her use of it. The fact that the spell was left hanging unfortunately also affected Buffy’s emotions, leaving her feeling somewhat disconnected and… incomplete.”


Incredulously Buffy asked, “Do you mean that all the problems I had... all the numbness, the depression…?”


“By no means, my dear child. You had experienced the true contentment of Paradise and had been rudely torn from there to be returned to this less than idyllic life in a manner that would have been sufficiently distressing to cause nightmares even if you’d had no memory of your state of being in the interim. Your difficulties were quite natural under the circumstances… but they would have been far less pronounced or prolonged had the spell been concluded as it should have been.”


Giles shrugged and went on, “And as if that wasn’t enough…”


“Oh God, there’s more?” Anya’s tone was becoming increasingly irate. “What else did she do?”


By now, tears were flowing freely down Willow’s cheeks as Althanea explained, “I don’t think any of you were aware that a blood sacrifice was required as part of the spell…?”


“Oh Willow…” Tara whispered in revulsion. “The ‘vino de madre’? It wasn’t black market stuff, was it?”


The redhead shook her head again. “I lied…” Her voice was hoarse from crying. “I knew you wouldn’t approve…”


“You never did tell us what the wine thing was, Will...” Xander reminded her suspiciously.


“‘Wine of the mother’…” mused Tara. “Why did I never question what that was?” Anya had a puzzled expression as if she was wondering the same thing.


Althanea raised an expectant eyebrow at Willow, silently urging her to answer.


“I… I did a spell…”


“Another spell,” Tara said flatly. “Why does that no longer surprise me?”


“It… it was just so you’d accept… so you wouldn’t question me…”


“So what was it, Will. What was the sacrifice?”


Willow began sobbing, clearly unable to answer Xander.


“Willow called a young fallow deer, killed it and drained its blood,” Althanea stated bluntly.


“You sacrificed Bambi?” cried Dawn in horror.


Tara looked sick. “You called…? Oh Willow. How could you? No wonder you did it in secret and then did a spell so I wouldn’t question you. You knew I’d never have agreed to help if I’d known that.”


“I wouldn’t mind if you were crying because you were sorry for what you did, Willow but you aren’t. You’re crying for yourself, because you’ve been found out. You lied to Tara, Xander and Anya and made Tara part of something she never would have condoned if she’d known the full details.” Buffy’s voice was icy cold with suppressed anger. “They’re the ones who should be upset just now, not you. You don’t have the right!”


After a few uncomfortable moments Althanea went on, “The ironic thing is that even the sacrifice of such a gentle innocent creature couldn’t possibly have been enough. Nothing less than a human life would be considered a fair exchange for a Champion of the Powers,” the experienced English Wiccan explained firmly. “What Willow has been forced to accept is that at some point in the near future she will be called to pay the price of her arrogance and deceit.”


Tara nodded and murmured sadly, “Karma…”


At the same time Spike nodded knowingly. “Soddin’ magic… Always consequences…”


“No!” Buffy exclaimed loudly. “You can’t expect… it’s not right! If someone has to die it should be me! It’s my fault. I’m not even supposed to be here…”


Dawn and Spike both clung to her, desperately protesting that they couldn’t lose her again, but Althanea reassured them by stating categorically, “No, Buffy. That’s not an option. Yours is the life that was bargained for. You’re an innocent in this, you would not be permitted to pay the price for your own resurrection. It is Willow’s responsibility.”


She shook her head in bewilderment and addressed Giles, “To be completely frank, Ripper, after analysing the spell the children used I’m amazed it worked at all, let alone as well as it did; bringing Buffy back intact in mind, body and soul. It really shouldn’t have! I’ve come to believe there were factors at work other than the haphazard casting by these four young people. Willow certainly wields a massive amount of raw magical strength but even combined with Tara’s and Anya’s considerable abilities it wouldn’t have been a fraction of the power that should be required to rip a Champion of the Powers that Be from her reward.” She continued uncertainly, “Not that is unless Buffy’s return had been approved by...”


“You mean…?”


“Yes, I think they received a boost from the Powers themselves.”


“So I was right?” Buffy asked in a small, hesitant voice, her eyes suspiciously bright. “I... I wasn’t good enough? They… they didn’t want me there…?”


His voice thick with emotion Spike growled, “Don’t you dare think that, Slayer…” He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed hard.


“Oh no, my child. I didn’t mean it that way at all.” Althanea assured her kindly. “I think it means they have another purpose for you here on Earth before you can go permanently to your rest.”


Willow’s head lifted hopefully. “So… I… what I did… it wasn’t so bad then? If she was going to come back anyway…?”


“We don’t know that, Willow.” Althanea reminded her firmly. “If I’m correct, they simply took the opportunity presented by your spell to ensure that Buffy rose intact. If the Powers had intended all along to return Buffy to this life I’m sure they wouldn’t have waited so long, or made the transition so difficult for her.”


Giles took up her argument, musing, “With Faith still… unavailable, they may have chosen to enhance your spell to make sure Buffy wasn’t irreparably damaged in the resurrection process so she could resume her duties over the Hellmouth. She is after all the only active Slayer. We mustn’t forget that the Hellmouth prophecy requires her presence…”


Buffy realised, “And you didn’t find the prophecy until after I came back… If I hadn’t, it couldn’t have been activated and we wouldn’t have a chance to destroy the Hellmouth. You’d probably never even have found it.”


“Or the Portal prophecy.” Dawn contributed. “If Buffy wasn’t here to be my Keeper, that wouldn’t have worked either… and I’d never have known I was still the Key and… and immortal…”


Everyone considered this new information for a few moments until Xander hesitantly broke the silence. “So, let me get this straight. When we decided we wanted to bring Buffy back, Will didn’t bother to do the spell that would have told us where Buffy was, but convinced us she was in a Hell dimension anyway. She changed things around in the spell without doing enough research and then she sacrificed Bambi. She did a mind control spell on us so we’d go along with her and not ask any awkward questions… and now I come to think of it I guess that’s why I suddenly stopped wanting to tell Giles, too. Then when we were doing the spell and the demons attacked and we had to run, she didn’t tell me she still had to finish off the spell and didn’t even think to go back and do it later. As a result both she and Buffy have been suffering the side effects for months.” He shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe that all the time you were lying to us, Will.”


When laid out like that, the redhead’s actions sounded inexcusable.


Giles sighed. “That’s about the size of it.”


“Oh, and you’ve always been so honest, haven’t you, Xander?” Willow asked bitterly. “Remember when I said you should go tell Buffy to stall Angelus while I tried the soul spell again? What was it you told her again…? Oh yes, of course.” She transferred her gaze to Buffy as she dramatically declared, “You told her I said she should kick his ass.”


“Well that explains a few things,” Spike thought to himself as Xander glanced warily at Buffy who was gaping at him in disbelief.


“And this so isn’t about me…” the young man said defensively, “We’re talking about freaky mind control issues and misuse of blood magics, not one little slip of the truth…”


Shrugging in defeat, Willow stammered, “I… I think I must have been already addicted when I... After all the power I had to use against Glory…”


Shaking his head in bewilderment Xander persisted, “Now that’s something else I don’t understand, Will. You keep saying you’re addicted to the magic, but Althanea said the magic is part of you. I don’t get how it’s possible to get addicted to part of yourself.”


“It’s not strictly possible,” Althanea explained. “The addiction isn’t to the magic in itself, rather it’s the knowledge that you have the power to affect your reality, to bend the elements to your will. The awareness that each time you perform a spell you’ll receive a high from the thrill of the magic flowing though you to fulfill your slightest wish. That’s the seductive factor that a practitioner can become addicted to. The lure of the impulsive ‘quick fix’, the heady power of control over your environment…”


“And us…” Buffy glared accusingly into her friend’s red-rimmed tear-swollen green eyes.


Giles sadly concluded, “Spells tend to go wrong when they are done for the wrong reasons. Selfish, malicious or frivolous use tends to cause a spell to backfire generating unwanted side-effects, whereas altruistic use when trying to help others is far more likely to have the desired effect. Of course these generalisations only apply when spells are thoroughly researched and correctly composed, if not they rarely work as desired whatever their purpose.” He gestured at the redhead slouched dejectedly at the table. “Willow has owned to her mistakes and agreed to undergo a strict regime of training and discipline at the coven in Devon this summer in an attempt to prevent a recurrence of her transgressions.” He looked around at all the emotional faces and added, “I do so hope you’ll be able to get past this… When working as a team you form a formidable force against evil…”


“We form a formidable force.” Buffy emphatically corrected him, gesturing to include her Watcher in the group.

******

“I still don’t get why he’s so different in this episode.” Nathan’s words were slurred by his need to speak through split lips and also slightly muffled, the result of a thoroughly broken nose.


Spike glanced sideways at him, satisfied that the pain evident in Nathan’s face will have reinforced his emphatic ‘reminder’ about keeping away from Dawn unless either he or Buffy was present to make sure he kept a respectful distance. “’Cos it’s a different fella. This is the beginning of the second season when they’ve moved on from the fifteenth century to the sixteenth, when Queen Liz One was on the throne. This bloke’s the descendant of the other one.”


“Oh. Does that explain why he keeps calling that pretty girl ‘Bob’?”


Spike scrubbed his hand down his face. “If you’d just belt up and watch the bloody telly, you’d be able to see what’s going on without interrupting and making me lose track of the sodding plot all the time!” After starting off mildly, by the time he got to the end of his sentence Spike’s irritated voice was loud enough to be heard from the street.


Nathan was cowed enough to remain silent for a few minutes, but then he couldn’t resist asking, “So why’s the scruffy little guy with the beard wearing a dress?”


“Because. He’s. The. Bridesmaid.” The words came shooting out between Spike’s clenched teeth like bullets.


“But why…” Nathan decided against continuing when Spike starting growling low in his chest.


A couple of minutes later however, his curiosity got the better of him again and Nathan asked, “Who’s the flashy guy with the hair…?” This time he didn’t get a response at all as the picture had frozen on the screen and Spike was too busy swearing and frantically thumping first the TV and then the salvaged DVD player in an attempt to restore it, to take any notice of his confused companion.


Eventually managing to retrieve the disc from the defunct machine, he examined it for scratches and then sighing in relief he tucked it back in its sleeve. Holding the boxed set up he raised an eyebrow at the younger vampire and chortled. “I’ve got a cunning plan… What do you reckon to watching the rest at the Watcher’s?” He shook his head and muttered to himself, “I’m gonna get you laughing in all the right places if it kills me… again.”

******

As he prowled through the moonlit streets of Sunnydale, efficiently staking two incompetent vampires who had missed chucking out time at the Sun cinema and had been lurking in the alley out the back, Spike chuckled to himself as he repeated some of the best one-liners from the night’s episode. He unconsciously cradled the bulge in his jeans protectively as he murmured, “By a thousand to one chance, my willy got in the way.”


He absently wondered if Buffy, Dawn and Tara had left any ice-cream or chocolate for him after their proposed ‘comfort food girly night’. After the meeting had broken up and Xander had left to escort the exhausted Willow home, the girls had decided to spend the rest of the evening baking cookies and pampering themselves. Apparently that meant getting into their pyjamas and doing each other’s faces, hair and nails as they tried to process Dawn’s discoveries and Willow’s confessions. To ensure them the desired privacy, Spike had been banished from the house to patrol alone.


Anya had been invited to join in but had said she would prefer to stay at the shop a bit longer and count the money again before Giles escorted her to the night safe. She had assured them that the nightly ritual always had the effect of comforting and relaxing her.


Sniggering at the thought that the attractive demon might have had a second motive for wanting to stay close to the Watcher, the vampire continued on his patrol.


TBC


A/N: Although it has now been proved that Buffy and Dawn are mother and daughter, for the most part they and the Scoobies will continue to refer to them as sisters (except for occasional teasing or instances where the biological relationship is an issue). For convenience’s sake, I shall also continue to refer to them as such.