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Part 6
Joyce just sat in shock, listening to Giles tell her all the monsters Buffy had defeated. She realized that Buffy had been telling the truth, and she couldn’t believe she had been so blind about it all. All those clues...and she had never picked up on it. She glanced over at her daughter, who was perched on the arm of the chair that Angel sat in, partly in his lap, and suddenly saw her in a whole new light. Her baby had saved the world, and every night risked her life to protect other people.
She glanced around at Buffy’s friends, Willow, Xander, Oz, and Cordelia. They had all helped too. And Joyce couldn’t even begin to think about Angel, the vampire that had his soul, then lost it after making love to her daughter, then had been made human by a curse that the computer teacher had found. Joyce saw that Giles had finished his explanation, and realized the room had grown silent. Joyce brought the teacup she was holding to her lips and took a sip, then setting it back down in it’s saucer. She took a deep breath.
“Okay, so let me get this straight. Buffy’s the Vampire Slayer, the one who has the skill and strength to kill demons. You’re her Watcher, you find information about evil stuff and tell her about it. You,” she gestured to the Slayerettes, “are there to help with research and sometimes fight. And you,” she finished, pointing at Angel, “used to be a vampire, then got cursed with a soul, then lost your soul, then got made human. Right?”
They all looked at Buffy, who nodded. “Yep, that’s pretty much the kindergarten version of it. You want to go to first grade, we save the world on pretty much a daily basis, and Angel and I are in love and nothing you say or do will keep us apart.”
Angel looked at Buffy, who sat mostly on the arm of the chair with her left arm around Angel. He brought his left hand up, entwining their fingers. She glanced down at him and smiled, and at that moment Joyce saw how much in love the two of them were, and that this wasn’t just some silly little fling. She saw the two smile at each other and she knew her little baby was all grown up. Then she thought of something.
"Buffy?" Buffy looked at her mother. "You were...careful, right? I mean last night when you..." Suddenly Buffy's eyes widened, and she motioned for her mother to stop talking, but it was too late.
"What? Buffy...you two didn't..." Xander said, and Buffy blushed and looked down at Angel, who was staring at the floor.
"Oh my God! I can't believe this!! He's back for two weeks and you two are already...ugh!" Buffy just gave him a look and was about to speak when Willow did.
"Oh, now I get how your mom found out. You two were training at your house...and then you...well, you know what you did, only Angel didn't go home and your mom found you two this morning," Willow stopped, and Buffy nodded. "Wow, I'm good."
"Yeah, she found us, I got really mad and told her, we brought her here, I was careful," Buffy said, with an awkward pause following. “Okay, now that everyone knows what I did last night, I had another dream about the vamp that can do the ‘presto, I disappear and then reappear behind you and kill you’ thingy. This time she threw the Slayer off of this bridge. And it wasn’t pretty. Giles, we need to figure out who she is, and fast. I--it feels like she’s here, the air feels different. It feels like it did in my dream. Any progress?"
"Hm? Oh...um, none. I've been researching about vampires that ca-can disappear, but as of yet I have been unsuccessful."
"Great, just great. There's a new vamp in Sunnydale, and we don't even know her name. Plus she had this cool thing that she can do, and she doesn't even cast a spell. She just does it. Who has that kind of power?" Buffy asked.
"Well...um...maybe she's part of a cult, or a witch, or she could be a...." Giles trailed off.
"Could be a what?" Willow put in.
"A gypsy," Giles replied slowly, making everyone except Joyce gasp. She was still a little lost. "I don't know why I didn't think of it before."
"Okay. So this vamp's a gypsy? Well that's just peachy. Just what I needed right now! God, they can't just let me have a couple of quiet weeks to spend with my friends?" Buffy whined.
"A gypsy...that sounds familiar. I knew a gypsy who was turned into a vamp, but she didn't have any special powers or anything, and she was killed by a Slayer in the late 1700s," Angel said.
"What was her name? What did she look like?" Buffy asked excitedly.
"Her name was Leonna, or at least that's what she called herself. The clan she was from don't tell any outsiders their real names. She had blond hair, and she always wore very subtle tones, never anything black or red. She was beautiful, with full lips and she had the longest finger nails I'd ever seen. She traveled with Darla and I for some time, and then I think she was with Spike and Drusilla for a couple decades after I got my soul back."
"Okay, well that would explain why she's here, probably staying with Sid and Nancy," Buffy and Xander started laughing, but no one else joined in, and they grew serious once again. "Plus--"
"Buffy, I told you, she's dead. She was trapped in a building that a Slayer had set fire to," Angel said, dashing all of Buffy's hopes that they had figured out who the mystery vampire was. Deflated, she sighed.
"Oh, yeah, I kinda forgot that tidbit of info. Damn, now we're back where we started. Okay, back to the library for more research?" Buffy stood up and stretched. She had been sitting down for almost three hours, first waiting for the Slayerettes to arrive, then listening to Giles recant the past two years of her life. When he had gotten to the part about Angel turning, the memories alone had been enough to bring tears to her eyes, but Angel had been there for her, for which she was grateful. She knew it was just as hard on him.
"Umm..will you guys need any help? 'Cause I have a manicure, and I can't cancel because it took forever to get an appointment. Plus I'm not all that good at the research stuff anyway," Cordelia said as she stood up. No one said a word, so she shrugged and grabbed her cardigan and keys. "Okay, well then I might see you later. I don't know if I'll be able to sit in that dark library for very long. Bye!"
As the door slammed shut, everyone else stood up. Angel put his arm around Buffy and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I should probably go too, but I'll come by the library in about an hour, okay?" Angel whispered to Buffy, but Joyce had overheard. She stepped forward.
"Actually, Angel, if you don't mind, I'd like for you to come back to the house with Buffy and I, there are some issues we need to discuss."
Angel just looked at Buffy, who shrugged. They both had pretty good guesses about what the conversation would be about. Angel nodded.
"Okay, sure."
"All right...well, then Willow, Oz, and I shall head to the library and begin to research further," Giles said, and Willow nodded. She walked over to the phone and punched in her number.
"Mom? Hey, it's Willow. I'm gonna be going to Buffy's house for a while, and I might be spending the night. I'll call you later. Love you," Willow hung up and turned around. "Answering machine. We'll meet you over there," Willow said and followed Oz out the door.
"Can we give you a lift, Mr. Giles?" Joyce asked, but Giles shook his head.
"No, thank you, I have some things I still need to do here before I go to the library."
"Oh, okay, well then I'll drop Buffy and Angel off when we're done. Thank you for taking the time to explain everything to me, I really appreciate it," Joyce said.
"You're welcome. Allow me to show you out," Giles answered. The four of them moved to the door and Giles opened it.
"Thanks again," Joyce smiled as she walked out into the sunlight. Buffy and Angel said their goodbyes and walked out also. They followed Joyce to the car and both climbed into the back seat.
They rode in silence for a few minutes, Buffy occasionally glancing in Angel's direction and vice versa. Their eyes would meet for a moment, and then they'd look away.
"Mom, aren't we going home?" Buffy asked, confused. Her mother had passed Revello Drive and had continued driving.
"No, I thought we could get some fresh air. We're going to buy some lunch and take it to the beach. We'll talk there," Joyce answered, her eyes never leaving the road.
After picking up some sandwiches and sodas, they drove to the beach. They ate at a picnic table, then walked down to the water. Buffy took off her platforms and dangled them from her hand, walking in the warm water. She stopped and stood for a moment, her eyes closed and her head leaned up towards the sun. She let the warm rays wash over her face, her hair blown back lightly from the breeze that came off of the ocean.
She felt Angel come up behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and stared out at the ocean. She opened her eyes and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I love you," she said. ,p>"I love you too," he replied and kissed her on the top of her head lightly. She twisted in his arms and faced him, brushing her lips to his.
"Ahem." They broke away from each other and blushed when Joyce cleared her throat. "Guess what the topic of the day is."
"Umm...the wonders of the ocean?" Buffy guessed, knowing full well what it was.
"Nope, not quite. The topic of the day is 'Buffy and Angel-now what?'. Who wants to start?" Joyce said as they began walking along the water's edge, Buffy and Angel hand in hand. Buffy was walking in the water up to her ankles, with Angel right by her side holding his shoes and Joyce a few feet away holding her sandals. She waited.
"Um...I guess I will. You don't know the whole story about what happened between the two of us, all the details, so I guess that's where I'll start," Angel said, then cleared his throat. "We met the night she went to the Bronze for the first time. I knew she was the Slayer, but she had no idea who I was. I warned her to watch her back and gave her a silver cross for protection. But that wasn't the first time I'd seen her."
They continued to walk and Angel continued his story, telling how he had first seen her when she was called at Hemery, how he had tried to stay away from her, but hadn't been able to resist. He told her what had really happened when Darla had bitten her, and their exchange at the Bronze.
The surf played around their ankles as they walked, and Joyce learned about
how their forbidden love had began.