We Happy Few: The Morning After the Night Before
by Sibling
"Good Morning, you two lovebirds!" Xander cheerfully greeted Rachel and Giles as they emerged from the room they'd shared all night.

Giles didn't reply, only glaring balefully at Xander before pouring himself a cup of coffee -- which Xander knew was a bad sign. Giles only drank coffee when things were really dire.

Rachel glanced at the Englishman, then said, "Never mind him -- I think he's just grumpy because he insisted on staying here and talking last night, instead of following your advice and going out to dinner. For that matter, he could've taken Faith's suggestion about 'screwing our brains out . . . '" Giles turned his glare on her, and she just smiled innocently back at him. "Admit it, Rupert. If you'd just taken me to bed last night, you'd be a lot more cheerful this morning."

"As it happens, I like to know something about the women I take to bed before I do it," Giles countered. "Such as . . . if their fathers were demons!"

Xander nearly dropped his glass of orange juice.

* * *

When Buffy and Spike came down for breakfast, they looked ready to burst from excitement over something. And for once, Buffy ignored the pancakes Tara was making. "Tara? Spike and I would like to ask you a big, big favor."

The witch glanced over her shoulder. "Sure. Just let me serve these to Dawnie."

While she was doing so, she heard the two of them arguing with each other.

"You should ask her."

"No, you should, you're the one who thought of it."

"Well, I'm the one who had to ask the big question last time -- in front of a whole soddin' audience, I might add."

Finally, Tara waved her hands, saying, "Whoa, whoa, time, people. Why don't you both ask me, so we can get on with it?"

Spike glanced at Buffy. "Good idea. Why didn't I think of it?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Because you were too busy dislocating your shoulder, patting yourself on the back for having the other idea. Okay, ready? On the count of three. One, two, three--"

"Will you marry us?" they said simultaneously.

Tara blinked in surprise, then smirked and said, "Sorry, guys, but I'm already spoken for."

She waited for Spike to chuckle and for Buffy to blush bright red before adding, "Of course, guys, I'd be honored to perform the ceremony for you two."

Buffy hugged Tara, and there was a chorus of cheers from the table in the next room.

"It's only right," Buffy said. "After all, you're the one who made it happen."

Tara blushed. "All I did was get you two to start talking to each other. You did the rest. Now, how about some breakfast?"

* * *

Later, in the Magic Box, Buffy's head was spinning with the latest bombshell. "So let me get this straight. You're part demon, but you're not?"

Rachel sighed, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Giles glanced at her, then squared his shoulders as he began to explain. "Rachel's father was an incubus, a demon that attacks women in their dreams -- and occasionally in the real world as well. Any children that result usually become demons themselves . . . unless the mother performs the proper ritual to dedicate the child to the Light soon after its birth. The wizard Merlin was supposedly such a hybrid."

Willow's eyes went wide. "Whoa. Merlin? The Merlin? As in, King Arthur and the Round Table Merlin?" She turned to Rachel, looking almost reverent. "You must be so powerful."

Rachel only chuckled in response. "Not all that powerful -- in terms of raw strength, either you or Tara could probably overwhelm me. But I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. For one thing, I'm a full psychic as well as a witch, which isn't usually possible."

"But Tara--" Willow started to protest.

"--has the ability to see auras, yes. But that's more of a sensitivity-to-energy talent, not a true psychic gift. It's a bit limited, especially when you consider that certain spells can alter a person's aura. A true psychic gift can occasionally be obscured, but never deceived."

Willow pursed her lips. "Okay. I think I understand."

Rachel went on. "The other advantage I have is an instinctive knowledge of how to use my powers. I can look at a spell in a book and know whether or not I'll be able to handle it, and how tired I'll be after I cast. I also didn't have to go through what Dawn's experiencing right now -- the headaches and annoying half-flashes and so on."

She shifted in her chair as she looked around the room. "I've always kept that part of my background a secret . . . but considering what we were told yesterday, I felt it was best to tell Rupert everything." She sighed. "Actually, it's a relief to get it off my chest."

"Well, considering there's a vampire, a demon, a half-demon, an ex-demon, and an ex-vampire in the room -- not to mention the Slayers and witches -- you're in good company," remarked Xander. "Us normal humans are in the minority here."

Cordelia snorted. "As if you were ever normal, Xander." The half-smile on her face took some of the bite out of her retort.

Buffy was wearing a satisfied smile. "I knew those big blue eyes of yours couldn't be real. They must be magical demon-eyes, right?"

The older woman looked at her, then burst out laughing. "Actually, they're about the only feature I know I inherited from my mother. She was a short, dumpy blonde -- even shorter than you, Buffy -- with a nose like a hawk and a voice like a whiny child. I sometimes wondered if I was an incubus' child because only a demon would ever sleep with her."

"But she did perform the rituals to save you from becoming a demon," Giles pointed out.

"Rupert, don't you remember that part of the Merlin legend? The 'ritual' that saved him -- and me -- was baptism. It's just my good luck that Mom was a good Catholic who made sure I was dunked into holy water before my belly-button healed." She tilted her head to one side. "I still wonder if it's a coincidence that baptism contains all the elements of the dedication ritual, or if there was a canny old sorceror or two among the early Church fathers."

Giles' eyes opened wide. "Now there's an interesting theory. Have you ever read the Vox Filiis Petri? It mentions a certain Paranthos of Athens, who--"

Buffy interrupted him. "Hold it, Giles. You can do the dusty-book-sharing thing with hybrid-girl later." She rolled her eyes. "Geez, no wonder Faith matched you two together. Do yourself a favor, Giles, and read something more interesting once in a while. If it has to be an old book, make it the Kama Sutra or something."

There were several chuckles from those assembled -- including Rachel, but not Giles, who just looked scandalized.

Buffy tapped her foot impatiently. "So, where's Faith? She said she'd be back from her 'errand' by noon, and it's after eleven--"

Right then, the bell on the Magic Box door rang. The group turned toward the door . . . and suddenly half of them were trying to restrain the other half. Angel was doing an inspired imitation of a vampire's snarl as he stared across the room at a pale and extremely unwell-looking Wesley. Buffy's anger was less showy, but it was still taking Spike and Dawn to keep her from advancing on Jonathan.

"Ease off, guys," said Faith, who was standing between the newcomers. She walked up to Angel, who ignored her, his eyes focused only on his former boss. Faith gripped his chin in one hand and forced his head around to face her. "Let it go, Angel! Wes was the victim of a real slick set-up . . . and it's not like you've got room to talk when it comes to screwing up."

"He took my son, Faith! He robbed me of the one thing I loved more than anything else!"

"He was trying to save your son, you big idiot! You heard Sahjahn boasting about that fake prophecy he cooked up. And . . . tell him about your summoning, Wes," she finished, looking back at her former Watcher.

Wesley's voice was hoarse and faint, but understandable. "I called upon . . . the Loa. They said . . . it was certain you would . . . devour your son."

Angel blinked. "The blood Wolfram and Hart slipped into my supply," he growled. "Wes, why didn't you tell anyone? Even if you were afraid of me, you could've gone to Gunn, or Fred, or Cordy . . . "

"Cordy . . . had gone . . . by the time I knew. And . . . " Wes glanced helplessly at the other two, then looked down.

Cordelia's eyes opened wide, and she whispered something in Angel's ear. Angel glanced from her, over to Fred, and then to Wesley, his eyes only slightly more sympathetic. "I . . . see."

The former vampire's brow furrowed, then flattened out as he seemed to come to a decision. "Even if I can understand why you weren't thinking straight, Wes . . . there are some things you can't just forgive and forget. And even if we ever decide to let you back in . . . you're never going to be the boss again. If the others won't trust my judgement," he said, glancing at Cordelia, Gunn, and Fred, "we'll find another way to do things -- but it's going to be a long, long time before I can trust your judgement again, Wes."

Wesley nodded. "I . . . understand. Let me help . . . if I can . . . and afterwards . . . if we survive . . . we'll see what happens."

Buffy spoke up then, staring at the other newcomer again. "Is that why you're here, Jonathan? To help?" There was a sarcastic edge to her voice.

The short brunet seemed to wilt under the Slayer's gaze, but he managed to stammer out, "N-no one was supposed to get hurt. W-Warren made it s-sound so cool. T-take over Sunnydale . . . get all the g-girls we wanted--"

"Like Katrina?" she growled.

"I had nothing to do with that! Th-that was Warren! But he . . . he said we'd all go to jail, if we turned him in."

"Accessory to murder, before and after the fact," Willow muttered. "I should think so. And I'm thinkin' six weeks is an awful long time to wait before coming to us."

Buffy nodded. "Good point, Willow. So, Jonathan . . . just what made you suddenly decide to come clean?"

"Him." Jonathan pointed at Angel. "I remembered him, from Graduation Day. Warren and Andrew knew too, but . . . they weren't there. They didn't see . . . what you fought . . . what we fought that day."

"Guy saw what he'd become, and was ashamed of himself. Something I can relate to," added Faith.

Buffy glanced at her, frowning, and went on, "How did you know Angel was in town?"

Jonathan pointed again. "Look over there, the third row, in the left eye of the skull on the second shelf? There's a camera in there. We . . . we've been keeping an eye on you guys for a while."

Xander went over to the skull in question, reached in the eye socket, and held the camera up, showing it off to everyone before looking at it and shaking his head. "Jeez . . . where else did you have these things planted?"

"All over the place: Buffy's house, your construction sites, the university--"

"So Warren and whats-his-name are probably looking at us right now?" Buffy ventured, scowling at the camera.

Jonathan cleared his throat. "Actually . . . remember the time loop thing? With the mummy hand?"

"Yeah . . . " the Slayer growled, turning back to him.

"Well, I kinda pulled the same trick on the other two. They're trapped in a loop in Warren's basement, and I don't think they'll be getting out any time soon."

Buffy's eyes narrowed. "But there was a way out of that spell, and I figured it out."

Jonathan actually smirked a little. "Yeah, but for Warren and Andrew to get out, they have to sit through a whole episode of Enterprise without making any comparisons to any of the previous Star Trek series or characters. Warren might be able to shut up, but Andrew couldn't stop talking if his life depended on it."

Xander gaped at him, then let out a bark of laughter. "Geek justice. I like it."

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