Joan was trapped. Simply and utterly trapped, rooted in place and held securely by a pair of strong, masculine arms that clutched at her tiny waist as if the fate of the world relied solely on her staying in that one spot. Her body was tense, vibrating with nervousness, her hands flapped uncertainly near her sides; literally waving around her waist where his face was buried in the pale yellow cloth covering her taut belly. She tried to move, wiggle out of this strange man’s grasp, but her fight for freedom only succeeded in chaining her closer to him. Eyes wild with panic, Joan locked eyes with her bewildered companion and silently begged for help.
Jenny was befuddled to say the least. The agenda for tonight had certainly not been an obvious mental breakdown of some sort by what seemed to be her dinner host’s son, William. While she hadn’t met the young man before this very strange and insanely awkward moment, Rupert had shown her several pictures of his only child over the years during their last dinner date that had surprisingly ended up with a nightcap at his house. It was that night that Rupert had filled her in on the tragic details of William’s recent loss of his girlfriend.
Cautiously, Jenny eased inside the doorway to stand in the tiled foyer and motioned with her hands for Joan to try and stay calm. Tiptoeing ever so quietly, stealthy as a mouse trying to steal the cheddar off the trap, she disappeared into the dining room in search of Rupert and hopefully, an answer. Seeing her date just inside the kitchen, she called to him with quiet urgency, “Rupert!”
Startled, Rupert Giles did his best to juggle the casserole dish slightly and miraculously not drop the dinner to the floor. Quickly sliding the dish onto the countertop, he turned towards the doorway and said, “Jenny, dear Lord, you startled me!.” He stepped forward; preparing to place a chaste kiss on his date’s slightly flushed cheek, but stopped when he noticed the worried expression. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s….well, your son! He’s manhandling Joan, Rupert!” Jenny cried out with worry. Grabbing his hands, she staggered backwards a bit, cursing the dressier heels she had decided to wear for the evening, and tugged him towards the fiasco in the foyer. “Come on!”
“Good Lord, woman! What on earth’s gotten in to you?” Rupert sputtered as he was literally yanked from the kitchen by his date, which normally possessed a calmer demeanor than the current moment. “Seriously, Jenny…I don’t believe the situation is so dire that you must resort to dragging…Oh my!”
“See?” Jenny asked, her voice barely reaching an octave above a whisper as she clutched Rupert’s hand and took in the scene before them. While the air in the room was indeed calmer, or at least the blondes in question seemed to be more peaceful with the situation now, Jenny was still worried after what she had witnessed moments before. “William opened the door, took one look at Joan and ended up like this…on his knees and sobbing. I didn’t know what to do, Rupert. He just seems so upset and I didn’t want to make things worse. Do you know what’s going on?”
Rupert vaguely heard his date’s questions as he stared in disbelief at the sight before him. Dazed and a little breathless, he sank down on weak knees to sit on the bottom stair and desperately tried to wrap his mind around what he was seeing. It’s often said that seeing is believing, but in this case, Rupert wasn’t so sure because what he saw couldn’t be possible. Could it?
Joan scarcely noticed the arrival of Jenny and Rupert, even though it was her fright that had sent for the elder Giles’s presence. The strange man was still clutched at her waist, though it seemed his weeping had finally lessened; her dress was damp from his tears and clung to the trembling skin of her belly as his cheek pressed against it. Although he no longer wept against her body, Joan could still feel the distressed vibes literally rolling off of him as his shoulders continued to wrack with sobs. Feeling the overwhelming need to comfort him, she placed her hands on top of his head, softly brushing her fingers through the stiffened strands of platinum blonde hair. The moment her bare skin touched him her body was on fire, a bolt of electricity coursed through every part of her inside and out, leaving her skin feeling tingly and more alive than she’d felt….well, for as long as she could remember.
Gasping, she tightened against him, bucking beneath his hold as sparks of light pricked behind her closed eyes. Suddenly, she was bombarded with flashes of confusing images; sweat glistened flesh pressed together intimately and writhing bodies melded against one another in a tangle of black silk sheets. While there was no sound, only the silent picture of ecstasy played out behind clenched eyelids, it was as if the feelings of the couple involved spread through her own body, igniting a fire deep within her belly and spreading goose bumps across her golden skin as she shuddered within his arms.
Joan felt her knees weakening, her body no longer resistant to the man at her waist. She was vaguely aware that she was slipping, sliding down to the floor, pressing against the hard planes and she willed her eyes open to finally see the face of this stranger that had evoked so many emotions in such a short amount of time. Eyelids aflutter, as if she were waking from a deep sleep, not quite alert as the surrounding world came into focus; her hazy green eyes peered dreamily into the glacial pools of wonderment glaring back. Gasping with shock, her eyes popped wide open with fright as Joan burst out of his hold and scrambled backwards to sprawl unladylike across the hunter green painted porch before hurrying to the corner to cower in fear.
Pulling her knees against her chest, she buried her head against them and whimpered as tears pricked against her eyes. It felt as though the world was closing in around her as her nightmares poured into reality. Night after night since her return she had been plagued by violence and horror, bloody carnage and rage, nameless faces staring at her with eyes full of hatred and anger as their bodies rotted away to skeletal remains. Shrieks of pain, shouts of torture and moans of sorrow, flooded her dreams, causing her to toss and turn in a fitful slumber until she woke, breathless and sweating, and a scream on the tip of her tongue as she gasped for a calming breath. And, night after terrorizing night, one set of eyes tormented her the most, two perfect cerulean orbs stared into her soul and ripped out her heart with the pain that filled their accusatory glare, heartache and loneliness crushed her spirits and tugged on her heartstrings until salty tears spilled across her flushed cheeks. Those eyes were seared into her memory, refusing to leave her conscience, haunting her waking hours until finally…they found her.
Rupert watched the scene before him play out with utter amazement and shock. Words escaped him as the blonde doppelganger wrenched out of his son’s arms and scrambled to safety. Silence filled the room; everyone was deathly silent for one brief moment before the frightened girl’s whimpers filtered in from the front porch and he registered Spike’s whole body flinch at the sorrowful sounds. Rupert jerked to attention, bolting from his perch on the stairs to where his son was kneeling, catching his distressed offspring mere seconds before he bolted to the cowering young woman.
“William, I think it best that we give Miss…erm, Joan some space for a moment.” Rupert said softly as he wrapped his hands around Spike’s biceps in attempts to restrain the adamant young man from barging forward. “William! Did you hear me?” He asked with a sharper voice when his son gave no answer, no recognition that he had even heard his father. Finally, Spike looked at him with watery eyes, filled with heartache and confusion. “I think we need to give her a bit of space and let everyone clear their heads a bit, yes?” Rupert glanced over his shoulder to catch Jenny’s worry filled chocolate eyes; his silent message read loud and clear, relief washed over him as the raven haired caretaker hurried to the side of her fallen charge.
Shock settled in, numbing Spike’s body and mind, ceasing all coherent thought as he allowed his father to navigate him through the darkened living room and out onto the back porch. He leaned against the paint chipped railing with a sigh, his unfocused gaze zeroed in on a fallen leaf and remained that way for several moments. “Do you think it’s her?” he finally asked; his voice deep and hoarse from crying. Without sparing a glance to his father, Spike reached into his back pocket and produced a pack of cigarettes, immediately lit one and closed his eyes in satisfaction as the calming effects of nicotine seeped into his bloodstream. “She can’t be, right? Buffy’s dead.”
“I…I can’t say for sure, William. Honestly, I don’t know what to think,” Rupert admitted shamefully. “She certainly looks remarkably like Miss Buffy.”
“Yeah, with the exception of the bloody tan and don’t forget the heartbeat.” Spike replied sourly, taking a long drag off the smoldering cigarette. “Is it possible?”
Rupert didn’t need further explanation; he knew what his son was asking. “Well, we are on the Hellmouth….stranger things have occurred, but as far as a vampire being resurrected as a human? I’ve never heard of such a thing.” Rupert removed his glasses, scrubbed his face with the free hand in frustration and glanced at the open back door. “I guess the best course of action would be to find out what Buf…er, Joan remembers.”
“And if she doesn’t know anything? Your lady friend did say she had amnesia, yeah?” Spike retorted with a sardonic laugh. “Then what? We just bust in and tell ‘er about all the bloody evil things she’s done and ‘Oh, by the way, thought you were dead’? Yeah, that’d go over brilliantly.”
“Right, probably not the best plan you’ve had. I’ll go inside and talk to our guests and see what I can find out.” Rupert decided, forcing himself to ignore the cigarette that his son absentmindedly tossed onto the pebbled walkway, and the fact that he was digging into the slightly crumbled pack for another. He watched helplessly as a single tear slipped down Spike’s face to land on his shirt. “We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
**hangs head in shame** Yes, I know its been forever since I updated. I sincerely apologize! Thank you to everyone who read and reviewes on the last chapter. And, great big HUGS and SQUISHES to my beta, Lauriel and also to Sotia, who encourages me to write! :) Hope you like!
Chapter End Notes:
Muse would like to know what you thought! **hint hint**