To Save A Vampire

Chapter Eight

Taking into account her slayer speed, Giles actually got to Buffy’s house at the same time as she did and walked with her up the front steps, ignoring her glare as he rang the front bell.

Joyce walked to the front door, wondering who could possibly be dropping by this late; afraid it was the police with her daughter, Buffy, again. When she opened the door she was surprised to see her daughter, held tightly by one arm by her Watcher, Giles, who looked mad enough to right then and there turn Buffy over his knees and punish her for what ever she did.

“Giles, I’m sorry, I wasn’t expecting anyone but Buffy. Please, do come in. Let me put on some tea for you. Would Earl Grey be okay?”

“That would be lovely. And you might want to put a pot of coffee on for yourself. It’s going to be a long night.”

“Oh, NO, now what did she do?”

“Nothing he didn’t deserve, Mom,” Buffy butted in.

“Hush you, before I silence you again with that spell,” Giles warned.

As everything was warming, perking and dripping, she decided that Giles might need a pick me up so she got down the brandy as well and then sat down. Knowing your daughter was the Slayer of the Hellmouth was not an easy thing to accept and, sometimes she wondered if the grey hair she had started to get really had anything to do with age.

When everything was done, she carried it out to the living room where she found the contenders facing off from each corner. Great, now I’m thinking in boxing metaphors, she thought.

She saluted Giles with the brandy bottle and then poured some into her coffee before handing him the bottle. Giles waved it in a mock salute back to her and then lifted it to his lips and took a straight shot, which told her it was going to be a long night.

“Okay, let’s start at the top, please. And Buffy? If I hear one word from you, you won’t get to tell your side at all, do you understand?” Joyce asked.

“Yes, Ma’am.” Buffy knew she wasn’t kidding. She had done this before when she and Dawn were fighting.

“Okay Giles, let’s hear your side of the story.”

The first thing Giles did was hand her the list of injuries and had her read them out loud. As she did, she got paler, and paler, and paler. “Whose injures are these, Giles?”

“They’re Xander’s, caused by your daughter telling his extremely abusive father he was trying to steal your daughter’s boyfriend. She knew that the man was an animal and an abusive father, so she was hoping for this to happen to Xander, to teach him, in her words, a ’lesson’,” Giles replied. He then went on to explain the prophecy, and the consequences of what would happen if it was not fulfilled before the next solar eclipse. He also continued with what Buffy considered the lesson to be, and what she knew about Xander’s home life.

Joyce grabbed the bottle and took a healthy swig of the brandy herself, coughing when she came up for air. She then got up and paced, agitation showing in every move she made as she re-read the list of injuries. Finally she stopped near Buffy and cocked her head sideways like an owl.

“Sweetheart, before you begin I have a few questions. This boyfriend, his name is Angel. Isn’t he the one that terrorized everyone last year?”

“Yes.”

“The one who put Willow in the hospital and killed Jenny, your teacher?”

“Yes, Mom,” Buffy said, trying to get smaller in the chair.

“The one who tortured Giles and the one you sent to hell and you ran away because of?” Joyce asked her words artic cold.

“That’s the one,” she replied.

Joyce reached down and slapped Buffy hard across the face. “How dare you see him again? Isn’t he a vampire? Aren’t you supposed to KILL vampires, not sleep with them? Isn’t sleeping with him the reason he turned EVIL in the first place? Please don’t hate me for saying this, but you must have been the worst fuck ever for him to turn evil. And now, because of this prophecy, your best male friend is stuck marrying him, and what do you do? You almost get him killed by his own father.” She paced frantically, gesturing wildly with her hands as she spoke.

“You make me sick and I’m ashamed to call you my daughter; not almost, but AM. Nothing you can do or will do, will change this in my mind. I will always love you, Buffy - - but I will never like you.

Saying this, she walked over to the couch and sat down. Everyone in the room could tell she was fighting back the tears that threatened to spill.

“But, Mom, you haven’t even heard my side. How can you be so judgmental?” asked Buffy.

“Buffy, nothing you can say, no excuse you can come up with, can justify what you did to Xander,” said Joyce. “So don’t even try.”

“I hate to add more misery to this, but we haven’t even discussed the problems we will have once I make my report and request that the Boston Slayer and her Watcher come here,” Giles said, interrupting the argument.

“But Giles, since you haven’t reported anything, you don’t have to, do you?” whined Buffy.

“That is not going to work, young lady,” snapped Giles. “This time you have gone too far over the line, and I must report you.”

“Giles, what could happen to Buffy? Seriously?” asked Joyce.

“Anything from therapy, to behavior modification, to stripping her of her powers to even death,” Giles said, not sugar coating it at all for the woman. He felt Joyce needed to know what her daughter faced for her actions.

“If she doesn’t go to England and face the Council, it will be an automatic death sentence and hit teams will be deployed, and anyone in their way will also be taken out, I’m afraid,” he said.

“Well then, I need to get the shop ready for a lengthy absence, won’t I? I will be there for her no matter what, even if it means watching her die.”

“Mom, you would let then kill me!!!” Buffy said, shocked.

“Buffy, this is no different than if you broke a law here and went to prison on death row. I would be there at the end, and I will be there if need be as well. I’m not saying I won’t fight to keep you from that end, but if that is the only answer, then I will be there to the very end with you,” said Joyce as tears rolled down her face.

“I think it’s time you went to bed while I show Mr. Giles out. I have some things to think about and plans to make for the shop. We will have to pull Dawn out of school and bring her with us, you know.”

“If you do that, I’ll make sure the Council has a tutor for all the children. Just let me know so I can make arrangements with the proper teachers and staff.”

“Thank you, Giles. That would be one worry off my mind.”

“Now, Buffy, get to bed. I’ll make sure you’re up before eight so that you won’t wake the rest of the house when the memories start,” ordered Joyce.

Buffy slowly went upstairs and the two adults waited until they heard her close the door, before facing each other. Joyce collapsed into Giles arms and, as he was expecting this, he lifted her into his arms and carried her over to the couch. He let her cry and hit him as she raged and screamed at the unfairness of her life, at why did it have to be her daughter that was the Slayer, and he just let her have her tantrum.

When she had worn herself out, he handed her his handkerchief, and just held her, and rocked her. He had done this many nights when it first came out that her daughter was the Slayer, after she ran away.

“Giles, what are we going to do if they want to kill her? We can’t let her die.” Joyce asked in a small voice. “I can’t sit there and watch my little girl be killed, I just can’t. Please, you have to help me.”

“Joyce, I will do everything in my power to save her, but right now, I can’t think of a bloody thing to do if they condemn her to death. It will be done immediately, and the chamber is warded so that magic can’t be used to get the convicted out. I just don’t know what to do to save our little girl. I just bloody well don’t know what to do.”

“Giles, do you really have to turn in this report? Can’t it get lost somewhere in the shuffle for once, please?”

“Oh, Joyce, you have no idea how I wish I could do that, but she has gone too far for this vampire of hers. It was bad enough last year when she refused to kill Angelus because of the soul issue, but to purposely have another human tortured, mutilated, and raped to keep a vampire hers, it’s too much and has to be reported. She needs help, and we can’t do it for her anymore.”

“I understand Rupert, I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand. I meant what I said; I’ll fight this all the way, but I will be with her to the end if I have to. She will not die knowing her mother didn’t love her.”

“Do you want me to stay the night like before? Some of my clothes are still here from before, you know,” Giles offered.

“Please, I don’t want to be alone tonight. I don’t think I would survive it if I was,” Joyce replied softly.

Together the two adults made quick work securing the house, and then Joyce led Giles to her bedroom, and closed the door.

The list of injuries lay on the table in front of the couch, scattered and forgotten.