2 hours later: 1 am.
Willow and Oz waved goodbye to Buffy and Spike and Buffy and Spike were slowly making their way home. Both were exhausted from such a long evening. Spike had insisted on dancing one more dance with her but looked totally wiped out now. She actually longed for his wheelchair so that he could rest but she knew they had to make it home first. She yawned as she reached the door and Spike stopped her taking a whiff of the air.
He whispered in her ear, “Angel was here in the last few hours. Scent is weak but still there.”
Buffy looked nervous as she opened the door to the kitchen quietly hoping to be able to sneak in and check on things before leaving. She didn’t have any such luck as she found a cross in front of the door, which she peered at curiously and removed just before Spike was able to bump into it and watched as he pushed the garlic cloves to the side whispering, “That only works with Dracula. He’s allergic.”
She wondered why they were at her house but shrugged as she entered the kitchen. She saw Giles sleeping on the chair sitting up and Joyce lying on the couch covered in the blanket her and Spike had been sleeping with the last few nights. She tried to sneak past them to get the wheelchair but Joyce yawned as she stretched looking very unhappy to see Buffy home.
Giles started in the chair as he saw Buffy holding Spike’s hand standing in the living room. Giles cleared his throat and Joyce rushed forward to Buffy taking her arms into her hands shaking her slightly, “You’re a vampire slayer?”
Buffy glanced towards Spike who shrugged and both glanced towards Joyce as she frowned admitting, “Yes.”
Joyce frowned as she took a step back shaking her head back and forth trying to make sense of this. For four hours, Giles had been filling her head with things about demons, vampires and the slayer, which was her daughter and had been since she was 14 years old. That’s 3 years that Joyce hadn’t known her daughter was a slayer. She questioned out loud as thoughts ran through her head, “So the gym in L.A.?”
Buffy whispered, “Was filled with vampires so I set it on fire to kill them.”
Joyce questioned, “The reason you were in the asylum?”
Buffy frowned, “You not believing I was really the slayer.”
Joyce spoke quickly as she ran through the things over the years that had not made sense but were now beginning to, “The blood in your clothes, the sneaking out at night, the reason you were skipping classes, the people in the school, the reason Angel is bad, the reasons you were limping or fighting in school or injured….all that was because of you being a vampire slayer?”
Buffy nodded not knowing what to say. Joyce glanced towards Giles exclaiming, “So he is some secret part of your life called your watcher who taught you to fight and conquer? You could really die every night and would have never told me what you do?? You save the world and never bothered to mention it? Are you even my daughter?”
Buffy released Spike’s hand for a moment giving her mom a big hug, “I’m still me, I just heal faster, run faster, can take care of myself and save the world but I’m still Buffy Summers.”
Joyce looked over her daughter’s face as she brought a hand up to her cheek asking, “If I asked you to stop could you?”
Buffy shook her head, “No mom. I can’t stop. Just as much as you can’t stop being a mom if I were to ask you, I can’t stop being the slayer if you ask me. It’s in my blood. It’s a part of who I am.”
Joyce frowned seeming to not accept the answer but not pressure for more as she turned to Spike accusing, “So you are a soulless vampire who what? Loves my daughter? Plans to kill her? Giles here said you have spent over a year trying to kill my daughter…why the change?”
Spike looked at his feet, which were so sore and distracting as he admitted, “I’m soulless, I’m evil and up until the last two months, I fed on humans but I do care about your daughter and do not plan to kill her. In fact I plan to save her from Angel also who has no soul and who is evil.”
Giles stepped up at this point and Buffy took a step back to take Spike’s hand in hers as she asked trying not to sound too demanding, “Can’t we sit down for this? Spike is still weak…”
Giles for the first time noticed Spike was indeed standing and he stuttered, “You’re alive and walking and all better….how?”
Buffy frowned as she repeated, “Can we sit?”
Joyce gestured towards the couch as she went into the kitchen to put on some tea as she shouted into the living room, “Want hot chocolate kids?”
Spike and Buffy both yelled together, “Sure.”
Joyce busied herself in the kitchen while Spike and Buffy sat side by side in the living room and Buffy glanced at the box on the table. It was a black box with a red ribbon tied around it. Buffy yelled towards her mom who was still in the kitchen, “What’s the box?”
Joyce yelled back, “It’s for you.”
Buffy shrugged, standing up to cross the room picking up the box. She slowly untied the ribbon not even imagining whom it was from as she let the ribbon fall to the table as she opened the lid and let out a loud scream.
Spike stood up and rushed to her side holding her as she turned to him crying. He took the box from her hand looking inside the box and inside was a dozen of dead red roses covered in hundreds of mealworms. He whispered something to Buffy who nodded and he ran outside to return a few minutes later limping badly. He still carefully assisted Buffy to sit on the couch as she turned sniffling against his chest.
Giles raised his eyebrow at Spike who explained, “Box of dead roses covered in worms that had a card that said, ‘Soon.’ It was from Angel, I’m sure of it. It was his handwriting and trademark.”
Giles nodded, “Your mother ran into him today.”
Buffy wiped her eyes as she looked at Giles and he nodded stating, “I’ll let her tell the story but needless to say, Angel had some not so nice news for her hence why I was called to explain myself and you.” He paused for a moment removing his glasses to clean them before putting them back on his face. Then he turned towards Buffy asking hesitating slightly, “Why are you with Spike?”
Buffy frowned as she took a deep breath standing from the couch walking over to Giles and lifted her hair slightly showing the mark. He removed his glasses not worried, “You have had that mark for almost a year now, that’s hardly to worry about. It probably will just be a scar.”
Buffy shook her head trying to explain, “It’s a claim.”
Giles still not understanding rubbed his glasses putting them back on his face as he said, “Well the Master is dead but I highly doubt it was a real claim. Those take two people…”
He studied Buffy’s face suddenly realizing what she was trying to say. He removed the glasses again as he looked clearly flustered, “Angel….”
Buffy nodded whispering, “I know you must be so disappointed in me but I had no idea this would happen. He claimed me but doesn’t realize it and…”
Giles stood up not listening anymore as he exclaimed, “I must research. I have to go to the school tonight and find out how to end it…”
Spike spoke up shouting, “Watcher sit down and listen.”
Giles sputtered but sat down just as Joyce brought in tea and hot cocoa with tiny little white marshmallows in them. She offered tea to Giles and took one herself leaving Buffy and Spike to enjoy the hot cocoa. Buffy moved to sit down next to Spike as Joyce pulled a chair in from the kitchen to sit. She crossed her legs resting the teacup on her lap asking, “What did I miss?”