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Chapter 20

Giles came slowly down the stairs, his shock at seeing himself glow in his dressing table mirror was finally dissipating. He was excited and scared at what effect the spell may have had on the vampire sleeping in his living room. He genuinely hoped that all that he had seen in Spike had been because it was truly there, but the little voice within that stubbornly spoke of council teachings urged caution.

At first he thought that the living room curtains had been accidentally left open, but his panicked gaze assured him that they had not. The light that had caused the living room to light up like a sun kissed silver cross on the brightest day was emanating from the couch. Giles gasped in delight. The vision before him was glorious. Spike was glowing, incandescent, luminous, effulgent. ’I pale in comparison’, Giles thought sagely.

~*~*~

“Giles, something seriously wiggy is going on,” Buffy told the watcher when he answered his phone, not even bothering to say hello in her rush to inform him of her agitation.

“Good morning, Buffy. What appears to be the problem, dear?” the watcher pronounced her name clearly, alerting his luminescent companions to whom he was speaking. He did not want them accidentally announcing themselves to the girl on the phone. Now was not the time.

“I’m glowing, Giles! I’m like glow-in-the-dark-Buffy. And mom, Dawnie, Willow, and Xander are glowing too. Everyone's light is different, but it’s like a glow-fest at my place! And there’s more, Giles. I didn’t tell you about the dreams I’ve been having, ‘cause I totally wasn’t sure if they were slayer dreams, but now I don’t know, ‘cause the uber-drool-worthy guy in my dreams was all glowy too. Then I woke up and‘You Light Up My Life’ takes on a whole new meaning.”

“You’re glowing, you say?” Giles thought quickly as he waited for her affirmation, he didn’t dare give anything away before the meeting; what on earth was he going to say to the girl?

“Uh-huh,” Buffy eagerly, but inarticulately confirmed for the stalling watcher. “Mom and Dawn can see it too, but Willow and Xander can’t.”

“Ah, yes, I see.” Giles really didn’t want to lie to her; he understood clearly how his acts of betrayal had affected her older self, so he searched desperately for an acceptable answer to give her. “I believe I know what has happened, Buffy, and I don’t believe it is dangerous, but I will have to take some time to check on some things. I will call you back when I have an answer to give you. Will you be at your mother’s?”

“Sure, Giles, soon huh? ‘Cause sun glasses in the house…sooo not cool,” Buffy offered a bit of sixteen year old wisdom before hanging up.

Turning to the two blonds as he hung up the phone, Giles informed them of the latest developments, “It appears that the spell has also had an effect on this time period’s Buffy.”

“How was that possible?” Buffy asked. She was totally getting pissed at the younger version of herself; she’d seen how Giles’ eyes had flicked to Spike at one point in the phone conversation, she knew what the younger her had said to him, and she was far from pleased. ‘I’ll give her uber-drool-worthy guy in her dreams…! That’s my glowy vampire,’ she mentally fumed. Startled at her unexpectedly possessive thoughts where the blond vampire was concerned, Buffy silently questioned herself, ‘Whoa, where the hell did that come from?’

“The claim,” Spike answered quietly. “It’s getting stronger now that Mum and Niblet have accepted it.”

Giles nodded his agreement. “Yes, it is as I thought. The question of course now becomes; what do we tell Buffy?”

When Jenny arrived a few minutes later, Buffy, Spike, and Giles were no closer to an answer.

The beautiful brunette gypsy smiled in delight at the very visual results of her spell. While not being particularly surprised that Spike rivalled Buffy in brightness, she was extremely pleased to note that Rupert, though not as bright as the blond duo, was equal in brightness to her.

When Giles informed Jenny of the conundrum they faced with what to tell young Buffy, the teacher was quick to come up with a suggestion. “I’ll ring her. I can tell her that I did a spell to show the depths of an individual’s humanity and I didn’t know she’d be affected.”

“Well, it’s not a lie,” Buffy conceded.

Jenny made her phone call. She had a moment of panic when Buffy had asked why her mother and sister had also been affected, but the quick thinking teacher managed to come up with a satisfactory response, “I couldn’t say, Buffy. But the spell will be over at midnight, so you don’t have to put up with it for long.” Fingers crossed, Jenny hoped that the young slayer would be satisfied. She was relieved when Buffy happily accepted her explanation and said her goodbyes.

The four sat down and discussed the matters that would be covered in the next night’s meeting while they waited for Joyce, Dawn, and Brother Luther to arrive

~*~*~

“Wanna go downtown and get some ice cream? You can describe to us how glowy the people are.” Willow grinned infectiously at the petite blond.

Buffy happily nodded in agreement. Maybe she’d even go and tell Angel about it. Looking over at Xander, already knowing that his willingness for ice cream would count as a big yes, she was a little perturbed by the darkness that seemed to surround his glow; she definitely needed to discuss the non-glowyness that was her Xander shaped friend with her watcher privately.

Buffy, Willow, and Xander left the Summers home, ice-creamy goodness on the horizon.

~*~*~

Giles unconsciously took a step back when he noticed that Brother Luther was not alone. Although both clearly shone with humanity and the second individual was as bright as Buffy and Spike, his size was a little on the intimidating side.

“Mr. Giles,” Brother Luther said, offering his hand. After shaking Giles’ hand, Brother Luther indicated his companion. “This is Garrett Wolf; he is our direct link to the Powers That Be for Good.”

Garrett was at least seven and a half feet tall with thick and wavy flame red hair that reached almost to the small of his back. He was dressed in what appeared to be a single shouldered short dress that was possibly made of his own hair. For some reason, Buffy was reminded of old pictures of Nordic Gods.

“Dragonflies,” Garrett gasped the word, clearly horrified. Moving closer to Giles’ table lamp, he turned on the watcher. “A Tiffany Dragonfly Lamp? You have to hide this when my wife comes to pick me up, she’ll never let me hear the end of it.” Encompassing the rest of the group, the man mountain felt compelled to explain. “The little woman adores dragonflies, even keeps them as pets. If she saw this lamp, she’d want one. Do you have any idea how much a Tiffany Lamp costs?”

Nonplussed by the open mouths and wide open eyes that faced him, Garrett continued, “OH! You should all call me Wolfie, no one calls me Garrett. Well, except the monks and some of the plains people, Oh, and some of my wife relatives. Actually it’s all of my wife’s relatives, but they just do it to annoy me; they weren’t happy when their little elven princess ran off with a giant.”

“There are giants?” Buffy asked, seriously unable to come up with anything else at that particular point in time.

“You’re probably more likely to recognise me in my natural form,” Wolfie explained, before morphing into his natural state and back.

“You’re a Bigfoot?”





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