Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for their reviews, tips, and suggestions.
Father
Part III
by MegaSilver
“Buffy?” At the sound of her friend’s voice, Buffy turned away from the picture of the medical team on the emergency room wall.
“Hey, Willow, Xander…” she said quietly.
“You okay?” asked Xander.
Buffy nodded slowly. “I’ll be fine.”
“How is she?”
“Still in emergency.”
“Did you call Giles?” asked Willow.
Buffy shook her head. “I went to his apartment earlier this evening and he’d—been drinking.”
“Drinking?” Willow was horrified.
“Mmm-hmm.” Buffy brushed a loose strand of her hair away from her face. “I really don’t think he’s doing so well.”
“Okay, that’s it!” Cordelia’s sharp tone cut through the mood as she stormed into the waiting room. “I go to park my car in the garage, and guess what? No valet! So, I say to the guard, ‘Look, I just left my grandmother’s dinner to do a good deed and drive my ex and his mistress over to the cadaver factory and the least you can do is park my—’” She stopped short when she noticed the others staring blankly at her. “What’s with the zombie faces?”
A doctor poked her head into the waiting room, saving them the trouble of responding. “Buffy Summers?”
Buffy rose. “I’ll be right back.” She followed the doctor into the hallway.
“I’m Dr. Maxwell. I’ll be taking care of your mother.”
“Is she going to be okay?”
Dr. Maxwell took a deep breath. “We gave her stitches on her forehead, and she broke her arm, but those’ll heal. There’s… moderate head trauma; she’ll probably be fine, but the sooner she wakes up, the better. And, I don’t know how to tell you this, but—I’m afraid she’s lost her baby.”
For a moment, Buffy was too dumbfounded to speak. “I—I’m sorry?”
“You—did know she was pregnant, didn’t you?”
***
Buffy rested her head on Willow’s shoulder. “I don’t even know how to react,” she murmured. “I had a little brother or sister and I didn’t know it and now, they’re gone.” She gulped. “I have to say goodbye, and I never got to say hello.”
“I’m so sorry, Buffy,” said Willow.
“But how? Who—”
“Buffy, maybe you should go home,” suggested Willow. “I think you could use a little rest.”
“No,” said Buffy. “I can’t leave my mother here. You guys can go.”
“Not without you,” said Willow.
Buffy sighed. Great. Guilt trip. Just what I need.
“What do you mean, not without her?” whined Cordelia.
“Cordelia, you can go,” Buffy told her. “You guys go with her. I’ll be okay.”
“Are you sure?” asked Xander.
Cordelia grabbed his arm. “You heard her. She’s fine. Let’s go!”
***
The next day, Buffy clasped her mother’s hand, feeling as though she was frozen in position. “Mommy?” she whispered. “Why didn’t you tell me? I could have saved it—them—whoever was inside of you.”
“Buffy?” Giles, looking like he’d been through the dryer, entered the room.
Buffy stood up. “Giles?”
“You weren’t at school today. Willow told me what happened. I thought I should be here.”
“Did she tell you about—”
“The baby.” Giles hung his head. “I know, Buffy. That’s why I came here. I needed to talk to you.”
“About what?”
“The baby; it was… mine.”
Buffy just stood in place for a moment, her jaw slack. “I beg your pardon?” she murmured.
“The band candy,” explained Giles. “Your mother and I, when we ate it, we…”
“Oh, my gosh.” Buffy sank into a chair, her expression revealing a jumble of pain, grief, and disgust.
“Your mother came to me last week and told me about it. I didn’t know how to—”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Giles drew in a deep breath. “We thought it was best to wait until we decided what we were going to do.”
Buffy stared up at her watcher. “Do you think that makes any difference?” At his silence, she was up like a shot and in his face. “Do you? Giles, you know the people I love are always in danger because of who I am. You can’t keep stuff like this from me! I need to know what’s going on so I can protect them!”
“We didn’t know how you’d react. I thought you might be too worried to—”
“How I’d react?” Buffy stepped forward, causing Giles to push backwards. “For almost three years, I’ve seen things that I had never thought were possible. I’ve been chased down by demons. I’ve killed vampires—I’m dating one! I’ve been to hell and back and you thought I couldn’t handle the news that my mother was pregnant?” Her breaths became shorter and heavier. “Look at her, Giles. Just look at her! You held out on me, and now your child is dead and my mother could be in a coma! And the way you’ve both been acting… if you ask me, you’re the one who can’t handle it.” She was in tears by now.
“I made a mistake,” Giles admitted. “I know that now. If we’d only told you, perhaps we would all have been able to handle it better.”
“Damn right.”
“I’m sorry. I really am. But you can’t dwell on this; it’s too late now.”
“Yeah, I know. ‘Sorry’ always means it’s too late.”
“It was wrong of us to keep it from you, Buffy. But you have to forgive us—forgive me—if we’re going to carry on.”
“‘Carry on’?”
“Well, if I’m not mistaken, Willow said something about a demon attacking your mother.”
Buffy was suddenly full of life. “You think we can find out what sent it?”
“Perhaps.”
“Then let’s get to work!” Buffy started out of the room, but Giles put a hand to her shoulder.
“Hold on a moment. You need to calm down first. You’re in no shape to be hunting.”
Buffy stopped and sighed. “I know. I’m sorry. I’ll calm down,” she promised.
“No, I’m sorry. And I know you will.” Giles offered his arms to the only child he'd ever lay any sort of claim to, and Buffy accepted them without hesitation.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“Well, first, I’d suggest you go home and get some sleep.”
Buffy shook her head. “I’m staying here,” she insisted.
“All right. But you will be at school tomorrow, won’t you?”
“No promises.”
Giles sighed. “Buffy, if we’re going to figure out this thing, I’ll need your help. And you can’t do anything for her here.”
“Fine. I go to school, we find out what this thing was, then what?”
“Well, we search for evidence of its presence and then see if we can trace it to the source.” As he spoke, Giles noticed that Buffy was looking past him and out the door. “What?”
“I think we just got a lucky break.” Buffy strode out into the hallway and cut a left turn in pursuit of a man she’d seen walk past the room. When she’d caught up to him, she tapped his shoulder, grabbed his neck, and thrust him up against the wall.
“What’s this all about?” the man grunted.
“Buffy?” Giles ran to his Slayer, then gasped when he saw who she’d pinned. “Ethan.”
“Hello, Ripper,” Ethan choked. “Ah, mind telling this girl to loosen her grip up a bit?”
“Buffy, could you—”
“Fine.” Buffy released his neck. “But if you walk away while I’m talking to you, you are gonna be so sorry.”
Ethan rubbed his neck. “And just what was this all about?”
“What are you doing here?”
Ethan rolled his eyes. “Oh, just checking up on an old friend of mine here. What about you? Just passing by, choking acquaintances for fun?”
“Try the fact that every time I see you, there’s trouble. For which you always turn out to be responsible, I might add.”
Ethan pretended to look hurt. “Now, now… what is it you think I’ve done?”
“You know damn well what happened, don’t you?” Giles growled.
“Do I?”
“I’m betting so,” said Buffy. “Not that I expect you to talk or anything. But I will find out what’s behind this, and if and when I trace it back to you, I do expect you’ll get hurt.”
“Buffy,” interjected Giles.
“Oh, making threats now, are we?” Ethan smirked.
“I’m not threatening. I’m promising,” Buffy warned. “Now get out.”
Ethan grinned at Giles. “Rather assertive, isn’t she?”
Giles returned Ethan’s grin with a cold stare. “You heard her. Leave.”
Ethan held up his hands and started off down the hallway. “Fine by me.”
Buffy shook her head as he left. “I would so love an excuse to kill him.”
“Buffy, he may be crazy, but he’s still a person.”
“Is he?” Buffy glared at Giles, though her glare was not directed at him. “He has no conscience; you know that. My mother’s in a coma, and if I find out that he helped put her there, that’s all the excuse I’ll need.”
“Buffy, you can’t—” Giles cut himself off. He knew he couldn’t argue Buffy out of this. “You’re exhausted. You need to rest.”
“Not with my mother at stake. I’m going back to the library to fill the others in and look up that demon that attacked her, see if I can find a connection. You coming with?”
As she turned to leave, Giles sighed, relented, and followed her out.
***
Buffy, Willow, and Oz sat on the library counter while Giles and Xander leaned against it. “I can’t believe you guys…” murmured Willow.
“Yes,” said Giles. “And do keep in mind, I wouldn’t have, had it not been for that candy. So let’s drop it.”
“So, Buffy, you think Ethan sent that thing?”
“That’s my guess,” confirmed Buffy. “Maybe he was trying to take me out. Missed me, though.”
“Or perhaps it had something to do with your mother,” suggested Giles. “He was, after all, at the hospital at the same time as us.”
“Which just screams, ‘freaky.’”
“But why go after Joyce?” Xander wondered aloud.
Buffy shook her head. “I don’t know.” She drummed her fingers on the counter. “Giles, do you think he knew my mom was pregnant?”
“How could he have? We never talked about it but once in my apartment. Unless—” All of a sudden, Giles donned a look of panicked realization.
“Your apartment!” gasped Willow, jumping down from the counter.
***
Oz meticulously inspected the last of Giles’ records, Disraeli Gears. “Nothing here,” he announced, sliding the vinyl album back into its sleeve. “Hope I didn’t scratch any of these.”
Buffy flung open a drawer and rummaged through its contents. “Preserving collectors’ items is the least of our concerns, Oz.”
Giles stopped shaking out the pages of his books for a moment and looked at Buffy. “Still, if you could avoid damaging any of my valuables—”
“Giles, if he’s wired your home, we need to find the chip and get rid of it right away, regardless of what has to be destroyed!”
Giles tensed up. “Look, I know. Just… be careful, that’s all.”
“I’ll be as careful as I can be and as ruthless as I have to be,” stated Buffy as she opened up a deck of cards.”
“Fair enough.”
A few minutes later, Willow held up a small green object that she’d found in a fluorescent light. “I think this is it!” she called.
***
Back at school, Willow studied the object through a magnifying glass. “It’s a listening device, all right. It says, ‘Milkbar’ on it.”
“That’s the brand of candy the band sold,” noted Buffy.
“So there’s almost no doubt Ethan was listening in on my apartment,” sighed Giles. “Perfect. I should have expected as much from him. More than likely, he put it in there a long time ago.”
“You don’t suppose Joyce getting pregnant was part of his little band candy plot, do you?” asked Xander.
Oz shook his head. “I don’t see how he could have known that she’d get pregnant from this.” He turned to Giles. “Or could he have?”
“Not that I can think of, no.”
“But either way, why go after her?” wondered Willow.
Buffy shrugged. “All I can think is either he was after me and missed me by a ways, or he just really wanted to piss me off.” She gritted her teeth. “Well, if that's what he wanted, he succeeded. He’s played, now he’ll pay.”
“Hey, guys?” said Oz. “Is that thing still working?”
Willow stared at the chip, her mouth hung open. “Oops.”
***
Ethan punched a clearance code into the panel next to the lab door. “Access granted,” the voice called as the door opened. He entered, closed the door behind him, and walked over to a team of scientists who were inspecting several green tubes. “How are they progressing?” he asked.
“Beautifully, boss,” commented a worker. “The prototype should be ready for modifications by tonight. And then, it’s just another seven and a half months.”
TO BE CONTINUED…
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