Daughter of Mine

Disclaimer- Not mine
Note- For some reason there were no speech marks when I uploaded. If I missed any, sorry!
xxx

Chapter 18: When it rains

Joyce shot to her feet. "Buffy!"

Spike stood up. "Slayer," he greeted her cautiously.

Buffy looked between the two before settling on her mother. "You're pregnant?" She repeated.

Joyce wrung her hands together. "Buffy-"

"Mom, please."

Joyce looked at her feet and sighed, gathering her strength to face her oldest daughter. She straightened her shoulders and looked her daughter in the eye; she had done nothing wrong and refused to be treated as such.

"Yes, I am. Spike informed me a few days ago."

Buffy reached for the closest chair and tumbled into it. "What? How? I mean- Huh?"

Spike chuckled. "You're old to enough to know the how, ducks."

Buffy shot him a half hearted glare. "I don't understand."

Spike smirked. "When a man and woman love each other very much-"

Spike winced as Joyce gave him a harsh glare.

"I thought you couldn't. That's why you adopted me and Dawn."

Joyce smiled wryly and rubbed her stomach. "It was a bit of surprise to me too, Buffy. I never thought this could happen, especially at my age. But it has."

"So, Im going to have another little brother or sister?"

"Yes. Is... Is that all right?"

Buffy blinked rapidly. "Yeah. I mean, its not a bad thing."

Joyce let out a sigh of relief and held out her arms for her oldest daughter. Buffy gladly hugged her mother, resting her head on her mother's shoulder.

Buffy frowned. There was just one thing.

"Mom, who's the father?"

"Uh, well"

xxxxx

"Now, you really have to tell him."

Spike leaned against the mantle and watched as Joyce slumped down in an overstuffed chair. Joyce sighed and rested her head in her hands.

"The first person she's gonna tell is her daddy."

"I know." Joyce looked up at him, her eyes rimmed red. "But she doesn't know. Buffy thought it was gross just seeing us kiss, but when she finds out-"

Spike pushed off the mantle and crouched in front of Joyce. He gently took her hands in his.

"Take it from me, Luv. Not telling the truth is only going to come back and bite you later, it always does for you honest types."

Joyce closed her eyes. "I'll see him tomorrow."

xxxxx

Giles stared down into his glass of whisky, a slight frown on his face. He had been putting this off for some time, but Spike bringing up that bloody test- He had to do it now. Buffy and Jamie's birthday would be here soon and the Council had to know.

But then the Council already knew. They must have. And yet they sent him to be her Watcher, knowing that he could have sent his daughter to her death without realizing, without ever knowing who she really was.

And the supposed mix up at the hospital? Was that the Council's doing? Had they really known Buffy had the potential to be a Slayer from the moment she was born and ignored it, fearing he would discover the deception?

How far did it go? Who could he trust?

Giles sighed and pushed his misgivings away. Reluctantly, he picked up the phone.

The whisky smoothly circled his glass, sending out waves of scent.

Giles cleared his throat as the ringing stopped and the call was picked up.

"Hello, Father."

xxxxx

Joyce knocked tentatively on the door to the library office. "Mr. Giles? Rupert?"

Joyce tutted at the mess the office had been left in. Books and papers were strewn everywhere, looking almost as if they had been thrown. Joyce held back a gasp at the sight of Rupert Giles sprawled, drunk and disheveled, over his desk.

"Oh, Rupert."

Joyce idly nudged an empty bottle of scotch out of her path and began to tidy the trashed office. Something had to be wrong for the normally staid man to behave in such a manner.

She just hoped it wasn't the end of the world. Again.

xxxxx

Joyce placed a mug of coffee on the desk beside Giles head and sat back in her chair. She idly sipped a cup of tea while she waited for him to wake.

"I'm not leaving until you wake up, Rupert," Joyce muttered.

Giles groaned and twitched. Slowly, he sat up and reached blindly for the mug of coffee. He had half finished it when he realized something was wrong and stiffened.

"Jamie?"

"No, Joyce."

"Joyce?" Giles sat up straighter in his chair and attempted to smooth down his shirt.

"Rupert."

Giles closed his eyes at her frosty tone. "I have to apologise for allowing you to find me like this. I can assure you it doesn't happen often."

Joyce couldn't help but soften at the sight of his forlorn expression. "What's wrong?"

Giles studied her carefully. Ordinarily, relations of the slayer werent informed of Council business; however, this could not be called an ordinary case.

"The Council knew Buffy was my daughter. And I think my father organised the whole thing."

"Your father?" Joyce asked, shocked.

Giles let out a horse bark of laughter. "He is not a nice man."

Joyce's arms automatically wrapped around her stomach. "Hank told me he organised a private adoption, there was a teenage mother..."

"My wife died in childbirth and I was lead to believe our daughter died as well. I spoke to my father last night. He said he knew from the moment he saw Buffy that she was special; that it was better to keep her away from me."

"Oh, Rupert."

Giles cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "I'm sorry, Joyce. You must have come here for a reason. What can I do for you?"

Joyce hesitated. "Actually, there's something I need to talk to you about."

"Hey, Dad? You in here?"

She started at the sound of Jamie's voice.

"Ah, yes. I'm here, Jamie."

"You won't believe the comic book collection Xander has-" Jamie stopped at the entrance of his office, staring. "Oh, hi, Mrs Summers."

Joyce smiled awkwardly. "Hello, Jamie."

"Am I interrupting... something?"

She scrambled to her feet. "No, no. Mr Giles, I'll call you about that painting you were asking about."

"Ah- yes, certainly."

Jamie and Giles watched, one in confusion and the other in amusement, as Joyce hurried out of the library.

"That was weird."

"Very much so."

xxxxx

Joyce summed up her courage and snatched up the phone.

"Rupert, it's Joyce. I was wondering if you would like to have dinner tonight."

xxxxx

"Are you sure youre okay with baby sitting?"

Spike casually took a swig of his beer. "Course, Love. You go and have a chat with your baby daddy. Me and Bit are gonna watch cartoons and braid hair."

"But I thought-" Dawn stopped her protest when she caught sight of Spike's glare.

Joyce carefully examined the two innocent faces before her. "Don't kill anything and don't get blood on the furniture.'

Spike snapped off a hasty salute. "Righty-o, Mum. Now go."

xxxxx

"This is nice. Isn't it? Don't you think? That it's nice, I mean."

Giles reached out to cover her hand. "Are feeling all right?"

Joyce took a deep drink of water. "Fine. Fine."

An awkward silence fell over the table.

Joyce exhaled heavily. "No, actually I'm not all right. I've never had to do this before so you'll have to excuse me."

"Take your time."

"I'm pregnant."

Giles fell back in his seat. "Oh."

xxx

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