Giles took another sip of tea before pushing his glasses up his nose and once again attempting to translate the text laying before him from Old German to English. The trouble was, he had been trying for the better part of an hour and had managed barely two lines. He simply couldn't concentrate. After Buffy's fainting scare earlier in the day he had continually found his mind wandering back to one question: How could he not have noticed? He felt he should have seen it coming, and somehow, some way, sat Buffy down and made her see how dangerous her lack of sleep was both to herself and to others.
But he hadn't noticed, and the same nagging little voice in the back of his mind which repeatedly reminded him of this fact, also reminded him of Buffy's stubborn will, and how he could not have made her do anything which she herself did not want to do. That did help alleviate some of the guilt, but not all of it. He knew he wouldn't feel entirely better about the situation until Buffy was back on her feet and functioning fine once again.
With one last disgusted sigh at his own inability to focus on the material in front of him, Giles slammed the book shut and sank back in his chair. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he briefly wondered if it wouldn't just be better for him to go home and try and forget about all this until the morning. Hopefully Buffy would be back at school then and he could assure himself that she really was all right....
So lost was he in his own musings that he failed to hear the tell-tale swish of the library doors which signaled an occupant had entered his sacred domain. He failed to hear the soft footfalls which indicated that someone was crossing the room and heading directly towards his office. He failed to notice when the approaching figure at last came to a stop in his doorway.
Yes, Giles was so lost inside his own thoughts that he failed to notice all this, that is until he heard someone clear their throat and his gaze shot upward, to where the figure stood silhouetted in his doorway.
"Buffy?!" he gasped. Scrambling out of the chair, he quickly crossed to the girl and gripped her upper arms, almost as if to assure himself she was real. "Are you all right? What are you doing here? You need to be home, resting, if you're ever going to get better-"
"Mission control, we have a problem."
The words stopped Giles cold. If Buffy had left her house and then walked to school in order to tell him something, even when she knew she needed to be in bed, then Giles knew whatever it was had to be serious. Mentally preparing himself for the worst, Giles pulled Buffy into the office and sat her down on the couch before asking "What is it?"
Buffy wasted no time in answering. "It's the dream, Giles. It's not at all what we thought it was. It's something way bigger than my lost youth, something *way* bigger than we could have ever guessed-"
Buffy was interrupted by the sound of the library doors hitting the walls as they flew open to admit Xander and Willow. The two friends stopped dead in their tracks at the site that greeted them.
"Buffy!" Willow cried out before running over to hug her friend. "What're you doing here? What's wrong? Are you okay? How're you feeling?"
The line of questions might have continued indefinitely if Xander hadn't interrupted Willow. "Uh, Will," he said nervously, "we have a problem."
And indeed they did. Because Xander and Willow were standing in a direct line with the open door to Giles' office, and Xander had just looked in. After doing a double take, he had then slowly turned his head to once again look at Willow, who was standing in the middle of the library floor, hugging Buffy with all her might.
Willow, wondering what the heck Xander was talking about, looked over at him for an explanation, and in doing so had a direct view into Giles' office, where she saw Buffy and Giles, staring at them with mouths agape. Just as Xander had done, Willow's head now turned to stare at the girl standing before her, before she jumped back and asked in a tremulous voice "What's going on?"
At this point, both Xander and Willow took several steps back as Buffy and Giles emerged from Giles' office, Giles to stand off at the side a bit and Buffy to walk up next to the girl who had her face. The girl who had the same sandy blonde hair, the same wide hazel eyes, the same build and apparently even the same taste in clothes, as was evidenced by the red T-shirts and blue jeans both girls were wearing.
"Oh my God," Xander murmured in total seriousness, "the vampires have cloned you!"
Buffy, or at least the girl who had been in Giles' office only moments earlier, threw back her head and laughed uproariously at this comment. Wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, she said "I guess I have some explaining to do, huh?"
When all three others just stared at her blankly, she drew in a deep breath and then said "Guys, I'd like you to meet Lydia. She's my twin sister."
* * *
The room was quiet for approximately two seconds after Buffy's startling announcement, and then everyone spoke at once.
"Twin sister! How is that possible?"
"I've never heard of a Slayer with a twin before...."
"Does this mean I still have a chance to date someone that gorgeous?"
Everyone stopped and stared at Xander, who only shrugged sheepishly when confronted with the obvious inanity of his own question.
"Um, I think I can clear up some of the confusion with just a couple of little words," Buffy said. As everyone turned to stare at her now, Buffy giggled nervously and then said "I'm adopted."
"You're what?!" Giles demanded.
"Buffy and I both were," Lydia said, speaking for the first time. "My parents, Robert and Marie Odell, brought me home when I was three weeks old. I've always known I was adopted, because they were always frank about it. I think, that on some subconscious level, I've also always known that I had a twin, although it wasn't until four months ago that I had actual proof."
"What happened four months ago?" Giles asked.
"I hacked into the computer system that encoded my birth records."
"Wow." There was awe in Willow's voice.
"I already had my birth certificate with my adopted name on it, but I needed to find out more about the circumstances surrounding my birth. When I finally found the information I was looking for, it confirmed my suspicions from all along, that I was a twin."
"How'd you manage to find Buffy? Did you call up her adoption records and find out where she was living now?" Xander asked.
"Actually, that was the one area I couldn't hack into. I found her original birth certificate, but not her adoptive name or where she was living. For months I worked on breaking the code to access the information, but I never quite managed it. I just decided to follow a hunch and it led me here."
"Isn't that awesome?" Buffy added. "And remember, four months ago is when I started having the dream. It wasn't about my lost youth at all, it was about my having a twin sister. Which explains both the single and double roses, because Lydia and I are two different people, but at the same time, we're the same person. Uh, is this making sense to anyone else or am I just babbling?"
Lydia turned and smiled at Buffy to give her support, and everyone else in the room was struck with the incredible likeness between the two. If it hadn't been for the barrettes pulling Lydia's hair back while Buffy's hung loose, they all might have easily forgotten which girl was which.
"Um, I suggest we all sit down, because something tells me we're going to be here for quite awhile," Giles said, motioning them all to the chairs around the table.
As soon as everyone was seated, Lydia picked up where she had left off. "It's actually kind of interesting, because both of our parents kept part of our birth names in our adoptive names. My full name is Lydia Claire Odell and my birth name is Claire Olivia Gardner. So my parents kept it as my middle name. And Buffy's birth name is Hannah Elisabeth Gardner and-"
"And my middle name is Hannah!" Buffy finished excitedly. Then, realizing she had cut off her sister, she smiled guiltily at Lydia, who simply smiled back, as if to say "It doesn't matter."
All three of the room's other occupants could not help but notice the incredible ease the twins had together, even after knowing each other for a matter of hours. Then a thought occurred to Giles and he asked "Lydia, where are your parents? Did they stay at Buffy's house?"
A cloud seem to pass over Lydia's features and her eyes filled with sadness as she whispered "They're dead."
"Oh my, I'm terribly sorry, I didn't realize...."
"No, there's no way you could have known. It's okay, really. Usually I'm fine with that fact, it's just that, well, today's been a bit emotionally overwhelming."
Buffy squeezed Lydia's hand and Lydia shot Buffy a look of thanks for the support. Taking a deep breath, she continued.
"My parents, they, they actually died when I was six. Car accident. Died on impact. I was sent to live with my mom's sister-"
"Who lived in Seattle!" Buffy piped in, before realizing once again that she had interrupted her sister.
Lydia, however, did not take offense. She just quietly continued her story. "My aunt died when I was 10 and at this point I was sent back to California to be placed in foster care here. I lived with one foster family until I was 12 and then I've been living with another for the past three and a half years. They've been good to me and I feel terrible for having run away, but I just knew there was more out there for me that I had to find. I couldn't wait until I was 18 and could legally look. The urge to search for Buffy was so strong that it almost drove me crazy sometimes.
"I'd lay in my bed at night, thinking about who she was, this sister of mine. I'd wonder if she looked like me or if we were fraternal, and I'd wonder what she was like, and what she liked doing. Was she a good student or did she have strengths in other areas? Did she know about me and was she, even at that moment, searching for me too? Night after night I'd lay awake with my thoughts, and then finally one day, I realized I couldn't just lay there doing nothing anymore. I had to take action. So I threw some clothes and food in my backpack and emptied my bank account and left them a note, thanking them for everything but telling them this was just something I had to do."
"That was a week ago, when the dream first began to change," said Buffy. "All this time we've always been connected yet I never knew it. And thinking back on it now, lots of things make sense. Like there was this time in sixth grade when I woke up with bruises all over my body and no idea how they'd gotten there-"
"And it was because I had fallen down a flight of stairs the night before," Lydia interrupted, before she realized that this time it was she who had cut off Buffy. But seeing Buffy's encouraging grin, Lydia just continued "Once I had this headache that was so bad I couldn't even see and I had to stay home from school for two days until it finally went away-"
"Which was when I got in a car accident with my mom and had a pretty serious concussion because of a cracked skull. Luckily, because of um, certain regenerative abilities, it healed so fast all the doctors called it a miracle."
At Buffy's last comment, the room fell silent, because four of those present knew there was one subject in this unusual turn of events which had yet to be dealt with: the Slayer.
Lydia seemed confused at the sudden lull in conversation, for she kept glancing back and forth between Buffy and the others. Finally, endless moments later, Giles conscpicuously cleared his throat and said "Well, yes, this has all been quite fascinating. I know it will give me a lot to think about tonight. Uh Buffy, would you be good enough to step into my office so I could give you some materials on, uh, twins and well, other things?"
Buffy rolled her eyes at Willow and Xander before getting up and following Giles into his office, where he shut the door behind them. Willow and Xander, meanwhile, just sat across from Lydia and smiled politely, trying desperately to think of something to say but continually drawing blanks. Only after the silence had stretched out for over a minute did Lydia finally speak.
"Um, I'm really sorry, but I don't know your names."
"Oh my gosh! How rude of us! I guess in the confusion in the beginning we just forgot..." Willow said. Then giving a little laugh and continuing, she said "I'm Willow and this is Xander. The stuffy guy in tweed in there with Buffy right now is Giles. He's kind of super librarian, even though he doesn't know how to use a computer, because he usually just leaves it up to Ms. Calendar who I think he's actually kind of sweet on-"
Realizing how much she was rambling, Willow quickly shut up. Just when the silence began to lengthen once more, Lydia asked "Where'd you get your name, Willow? It's very unique."
"Yeah, well, that's what I used to tell myself when I was younger and other kids used to tease me. I figure it could have been worse though. If I had been a boy, my parents were planning on naming me Cedar."
Lydia laughed at this. Xander then picked up the story where Willow had left off. "Actually, her parents were pretty much flower children. Or should I say tree children. They're both environmentalists...."
While Xander and Willow regaled Lydia with tales of their wacky families, Giles and Buffy were in a heated discussion behind closed doors.
"What do you mean you're going to tell her?" Giles demanded. "Too many people already know that you're the Slayer. To tell anyone else would be to deliberately endanger that person."
"Giles," Buffy said, adopting her most didactic tone "think about it. Lydia is my identical twin, which means she looks just like me. I am the Slayer. Therefore, Lydia looks just like the Slayer. Do the words `vampire field day' mean anything to you?"
"Oh, I see your point," Giles said.
"Good, I was hoping you would. But other than that, we really have to look at this from another viewpoint. Lydia is probably going to be living with me now and I think she'd begin to wonder why I always sneak out of my bedroom window at night. My mom may not notice, but she's, and pardon me here, an adult, and adults usually don't see things they don't want to see. Lydia is my age, and she's going to notice when I go on my little nighttime forays. So I think I better tell her now before she inadvertently says something or goes and gets herself hurt trying to follow me, don't you?"
"All right Buffy, you win. But I must warn you that this whole situation is entirely precarious. I've never heard of a case of a Slayer having an identical twin before, and until all its ramifications are clear, I want you to cease hunting. I don't know what role Lydia may play in all this, but I certainly intend to find out."
"That's great Giles, and you're not the only one who wants to know. But I just want to be able to share with my sister, my *twin* sister, everything about me. It's bad enough keeping it from my mom, and she's my mom. I don't think I could deal with keeping it from Lydia."
"Well, go ahead and tell her, but remember to stress the danger and how you don't want anyone around you hurt. And above all else, stress secrecy."
"Duh Giles."
"Just checking," Giles said before turning to his desk to move aside a heavy tome. "Uh, your mother, she knows about Lydia?"
"Well actually, no. We kinda left before she came back. She handed me my birth certificate and just said `Honey, I'll be home in a few hours, when you've had time to process everything.' I just don't think she realized how *much* I'd be processing." Buffy smiled to herself at the thought of her mother's impending reaction to Lydia. "You know, I might have been mad at her for not telling me I was adopted, at least I would have been before Lydia showed up. But I'm really not. I can totally understand why she didn't tell me, and I can see that she really did always have my best interests at heart."
"I'm glad you can see that, Buffy, especially in light of what an emotionally wracking day you've had. Many others would have been overcome by their emotions and thereby rendered incapable of logical thought, but through it all you've retained a clear head and have put reason ahead of emotion. It takes a strong person to be able to do that."
Buffy beamed at Giles compliment, and gave him a big hug. Giles still marveled at the girl's recently acquired fondness for open displays of affection, but he tentatively hugged her back. Buffy tightened her hold until Giles thought he might pass out from lack of oxygen, but just as quickly as she had begun the hug, she ended it. Giles' lungs gave a silent cry of thanks and Giles himself said with a smile "Go home Buffy. Go get your sister and go home, and enjoy your new found family."
As Giles turned back to his desk, he heard the creak as Buffy opened the door to his office and stepped into the main library. And as he began flipping through the pages of one particularly old and musty book in search of any references to identical twins, Giles heard a gaggle of voices, and then the swoosh of the library doors as they were swallowed up.
And he was alone.
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