A Different Life: Part 10

Joyce went to check on Buffy when she woke up and found Buffy lying on top of her bed, still fully clothed, a piece of paper clutched in her hand. Joyce gently removed it and looked at it. She stood there staring at the card, nothing about it making sense. Why would Buffy have a business card for the Curator of the British Museum? With his home number on it. She looked down at her daughter and saw that her face was stained with tears. Joyce wished she knew how to make her daughter happy again but she didn’t. Putting the card on the bedside table she drew a blanket over Buffy and then left the room.

When Buffy awoke she instantly thought of the card and panicked when it wasn’t in her hand anymore. Afraid that the Powers That Be had taken it she searched the floor for it. Finally her eyes saw it on the bedside table. Grabbing it she held it to her breast. She heard her mom calling her. “Buffy, come down here. Quickly.”

Buffy ran down the stairs. “What?”

Her mom pointed to the television set. “Do you know who that is?” Joyce knew because the reporter had just mentioned his name. But she wanted to know if Buffy knew. Joyce noticed that the card was back in Buffy’s hand.

Buffy moved so she could see the TV. She gasped. It was Giles. Her Giles. On TV. She sat as close to the television set as she could. Reaching out a hand she traced his face as he spoke. Joyce was stunned at the look on her daughter’s face. It was filled with such love, and longing, and desperate sadness. Buffy moaned when the interview was over and Giles’ face left the screen. She laid her head down on her knees. Then she looked up at her mom. “See if it’s on any other channel.”

Joyce complied with her wishes, biting her tongue for the time being. They found the story on another channel. Again Buffy watched him, her face never leaving the screen, her fingers resting on his face. “He looks so sad.” Buffy had spent too much time with him sad in her first life with him as her Watcher to not recognize that emotion on his face. She wondered what he was sad about.

Someone was trying to hand him a message as he spoke. Buffy grinned when she saw who it was. “That’s Nathan. Giles said that he’s his right hand man. Oh, and look, that’s Dr. Chin.” Buffy felt as if they were old friends. Again the story ended. Buffy turned to Joyce and gestured with her fingers for Joyce to look again.

Joyce did the full circuit of channels twice but then she shut the TV off. “All the morning shows are done now. It probably won’t be on again until the noon news. Who is he? Why do you have his card?”

Buffy was lost in her memories of that life. “Don’t you remember? I called you. I called you and told you that I met someone. You were a little wigged about his age because he’s 46 but when you found out that he was the Curator of the British Museum you kept saying oh my, over and over again.” Buffy looked at her mom, a grin on her face. A grin that Joyce hadn’t seen in far too long. “I told you that he’d take you on a private tour of the museum and you were in seventh heaven about it. You and dad…” Buffy faltered. “You and…” Buffy covered her face with her hands and let out a cry. “Oh, God. None of this happened, did it?”

Joyce got up to go sit by her daughter. “None of what?” She needed to understand. Buffy started to rock herself and she moaned again. The hopeless sound of it sent shivers up and down Joyce’s back. “Buffy, tell me what’s going on.” She could see Buffy shutting down. Thinking frantically Joyce came up with the only question she could think of that might make Buffy talk. “Tell me more about him, this…this Curator of yours.”

Buffy looked up at her mom. “Really?”

Joyce nodded. “Yes, I want to hear about him.”

Buffy needed desperately to talk about him so even though a part of her knew that her mom was humoring her, she gave in to her needs and she started to talk. “He’s got two dogs. Two labs, a chocolate one and a golden one. The golden one is Ethan and the chocolate one is Rayne. He named them after a friend who hates that he did that.” Buffy giggled and wiped her nose with her hand.

Joyce couldn’t remember the last time Buffy giggled like that, like she didn’t have a care in the world. “Tell me more.”

“Ethan knocked me down. I was walking in Russell Square, you know the one in Bloomsbury by the museum?” At her mom’s nod, she continued. “Anyway, Giles was there playing Frisbee with the dogs and Ethan knocked me down. That’s how we met.” Buffy’s face was so lit up. “And his sister is so nice. Her name is Gwen and she barged in on us when we were kissing.” Buffy blushed at the memory. Then Buffy noted the look of confusion on her mother’s face.

Joyce watched as the joy on Buffy’s face slowly gave way to sorrow. Buffy shook her head. “It doesn’t really matter, does it? None of it happened. I mean, if you don’t remember any of it happening, then it didn’t, right? You know I’ve never been to London. How could I know this guy? How could I have his card in my hand?” Buffy started to cry and the sobs tore at Joyce’s heart.

Joyce asked her softly. “How do you have his card in your hand?”

Buffy sobbed the words out. “He gave it to me. Right after he told me he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me.” Buffy continued to cry for the longest time and Joyce gently rocked her, running her hand down her hair, making soothing sounds.

When Buffy finally stopped crying she pulled out of her mom’s arms and wiped her tears away, one hand still holding on to the card. She smiled sadly at her mom. “I know I sound crazy. I’m sorry. I know the whole Slayer gig’s been a drag for you and the last thing you need is to be worrying about whether I’ve gone nuts.”

Joyce chose her words carefully. “It’s true that I don’t understand any of this. But I know that as a mother to a Slayer and to a cosmic key that unbelievable things happen in our life all the time. And I know that whatever this is, whatever this man is to you, or that you think he is to you, that it makes you happier than anything has in a long time.”

Buffy’s eyes were bright with tears. “He did make me happy. I love him.” The misery was clear on her face. “But he doesn’t know who I am anymore.”

“Why not?”

“Because I never went there.”

“Help me out here, Buffy, I’m floundering. Please, I want to understand.” Buffy looked at her mom for a long time. And then she told her, all of it.

A couple of hours later they were back on the couch and Buffy had her head in Joyce’s lap. Joyce was still trying to clarify things. “So I was dead in that first life?” She felt Buffy nod. “And you died?” Another nod. “And this Rupert Giles, he was your Watcher?” Again, a nod. “And you went to college?”

Buffy sat up and grinned. “He helped me study for my SATs. We’d sit around the graveyard for hours while he quizzed me and kept an abundant supply of number two pencils in his pocket.”

“So not all Watchers are like Wes?” Joyce knew Sam was different but it didn’t really matter, as Kendra didn’t want a normal life.

“No, they’re totally different.”

“Did he give you that test?” Joyce had almost killed Wes when she had found out what he had done to Buffy.

“Yes, but half way through he changed his mind and he told me about it. They fired him for it, but he stayed. He wouldn’t leave me.”

“Did I like him?” She couldn’t imagine that she wouldn’t.

Buffy grimaced. She was totally not telling her mom about the band candy incident. “Well, you know how Wes told you right away that I was the Slayer?”

Joyce’s eyes narrowed. “Yes, with the announcement that he planned to take you away from me.”

“Well, Giles didn’t tell you. And by the time you found out I was the Slayer you were pretty mad that he had kept that a secret from you. In a lot of ways that life was pretty bad compared to this life. Lots of bad things happened and you blamed him for a lot of it. You guys got along but you were definitely not best buds.”

“But you went to college.”

“Yup, UC Sunnydale. I got accepted to Northwestern.”

Joyce gasped. “You got accepted to Northwestern?”

“I totally aced my SATs, thanks to Giles.” She paused. “Oh, I got to be a cheerleader for a while.”

“He let you be a cheerleader?”

“Well, he wasn’t thrilled but he was pretty good about letting me have a life, you know, boyfriends, and dates, and stuff.” Buffy sat up. “He took pretty good care of me. When you died, he took care of everything. The funeral, the paperwork. I was a basket case. Me and Dawn both were. He was over here all the time cooking us dinner and helping clean up. And when I died after I jumped into the rift and they brought me back, I was so in debt I thought I might lose the house and he gave me a bunch of money.”

“Well, I’m sorry that I didn’t like him more. He sounds like a bit of a miracle after dealing with Wes all these years.”

“He was a miracle.” Buffy let out a tremulous breath and looked at her mom. “Do you believe me?”

“I believe that this all seems very real to you. Whether you actually lived those lives, or whether someone put these memories in your head, I don’t know what to believe about that.” She put her hand on Buffy’s cheek. “I do know that I wish I could make you that happy again.”

Buffy ran her thumb over Giles’ card and sighed. “If someone just put memories in my head why do I have this?”

Joyce shook her head. “I don’t know, Buffy, I don’t know.”

***

Ethan grinned at Gwen as the door slowly opened. She whispered to him. “How did you know you could get this door open?”

“Come on, Gwen. How do you think I played all those practical jokes on poor Rupert.”

“You’ve broken into the Council before?” It was almost midnight and Gwen couldn’t imagine that she had let Ethan talk her into this.

Ethan grinned again. “More times than you want to know about.” Gwen had explained the situation to Ethan as to what was going on. Ethan, who had seen a few more magical things than Gwen, was quite willing to believe that something was going on other than his friend going mad. Gwen had recounted the dreams the best she could, as Giles had been pretty drunk when he had started talking about them.

She’d told Ethan enough to make him want to check out the Council. There had been too many dreams about Slayers and Watchers. Besides he was always willing to blame everything on the Council. It was so convenient that way. And on this he and Gwen completely agreed. The Council had not been a good thing for Rupert. They had both been very relieved when he had suddenly left.

Ethan pressed Gwen against the wall as a guard made his rounds in an adjacent corridor. She hissed at him. “What will they do to us if they find us in here?”

Ethan wiggled his eyebrows and spoke in a menacing tone. “Throw us in the dungeons.”

Gwen smacked him. “Ha ha.” She pointed down the hall. “Can we just get this done?”

Ethan nodded and taking Gwen’s hand he pulled her through a labyrinthine journey until he reached the office he had been searching for. He tried the door but it was locked. Again, as he had done with the side door, he picked the lock. Grinning with success he slowly opened the door.

When they were in and the door was shut behind him Gwen looked around. “What is this room? Why did we come here?”

“Ru showed me this room. It’s where they keep information about the current Slayer. The demons she’s been killing, the reports from the current Watcher. This way everyone can stay up to date in case research is required or if anyone has some information to contribute.”

Gwen’s lips tightened. “How very organized of them. And I suppose when the Slayer dies they just throw it all away and start over?” Gwen hated the Council’s attitude about Slayers. She thought it was inhuman. And once Giles had left the Council he had finally agreed with her. That had been part of what had made Gwen hate the Council. It had turned her brother into someone who believed that Slayers were instruments, and not just young girls on whom fate had played a miserable trick.

Ethan poked Gwen. “Just look for something useful. Perhaps an entry about some magic demon, or stuff about time anomalies, that sort of thing.”

Gwen began to peruse the stacks of paper. “Oh, this one says the Slayer’s name is Kendra.” Putting that paper aside she kept looking.

Ethan stood up straight. “I’ll be damned.”

Gwen walked over to Ethan. “What?”

Ethan showed her the paper. “Apparently there are two Slayers. And this one? Her name is Buffy Summers.”

Gwen gasped. “Oh, my God. That’s her name, the one that Ru lost.”

Ethan nodded. “We need to find out why there are two of them. Maybe that’s when this whole thing happened.”

Gwen nodded and the two of them settled down to do some serious reading.

***

Joyce answered the front door when the doorbell rang. She smiled when she saw Xander and Willow. “Hi. Buffy’s not here. She’s training.”

Xander and Willow exchanged a look. Willow spoke. “We know. We sort of wanted to talk to you.”

Joyce’s eyebrows rose. “Well, come on in. Do you want some hot chocolate?”

Xander grinned. “Got any marshmallows?”

“Of course.”

“Count me in.”

“Willow?”

“Yeah, that would be great.” They both followed Joyce into the kitchen. Joyce had Dr. Rupert Giles’ business card in her pocket. Buffy didn’t feel safe just leaving it around, afraid it might get thrown away, and she refused to have it with her anywhere near Wes. He was always taking things away from her if he thought it was distracting her. Buffy was always complaining about all the books and magazines he’d taken away from her over the years. So, she had left it with her mom, with strict instructions to keep it safe.

Joyce bustled around the kitchen making the three of them hot chocolate. After she was done she sat down with them at the table. “So, what’s on your mind?”

Again, Willow and Xander exchanged a glance. Willow wrinkled her nose. “Was Buffy sort of weird last night when she got home?”

Joyce pursed her lips. “What do you mean?”

Willow launched into her story. “Well, she just was acting kind of goofy last night like she didn’t know anything about her life. She thought you were dead and that she had died when she jumped off that thing. She acted like she didn’t even know that Wes was her Watcher.”

Xander chimed in. “Which is the only thing that makes sense to me. You know, being in denial, about that.” Xander went back to his hot chocolate. But then he remembered something else. “She didn’t even remember who the school librarian was and that is not something that you could ever forget. Ever.”

Willow gave Xander a look and picked up again. “And then she thought Xander was engaged and I was…well…never mind. She just seemed so confused and sad last night and well, we were sort of worried about her.”

Joyce took a sip. “She thought I was dead?”

“Yeah, when she found out you weren’t she took off so fast I didn’t even see her go.”

Joyce thought about what Buffy had been like last night when she had gotten home, the tears, the rib-bruising hug. She touched her pocket where the card was. “Buffy…”

Willow and Xander both leaned in. Willow encouraged her. “Buffy…?”

Joyce looked at the two of them. Buffy couldn’t have stauncher friends. Joyce was constantly amazed and grateful at their dedication to her daughter. Nodding her head she pulled out the card. She held it up so they could look at it but she pulled it back when Xander reached for it. “No, you can’t touch it. If something happens to this card Buffy will kill me.”

Willow looked confused. “Who is he? Who is Rupert Giles, Ph.D.?”

Joyce let out a soft laugh. “Apparently, the love of her life.” At the looks on their faces she laughed again and then she explained. She only told them about Buffy’s life that ended up with her in London. She didn’t want to talk about that other life. That would be Buffy’s choice to share or not to share that with her friends.

When she was done Xander looked at her. “Do you believe her?”

Again Joyce laughed. “Xander, one of my daughters is a Slayer. Every night she kills creatures that 99% of the world doesn’t believe in. My other daughter didn’t exist until a year ago when some mystical monks made her to protect a key from a crazed god from another universe. They implanted an entire lifetime of memories in my head, in all of our heads. I remember giving birth to Dawn, holding her in my arms. I don’t know what happened to Buffy, but I believe that something did.”

Willow scrunched her face up. “Could she have dreamed it all while she was in that coma? She was in it for a while. Maybe she created this world for herself, because this one was kind of sad.”

Joyce held up the card. “I would say yes to that, just like I’d say yes to almost any theory you might come up with, but it doesn’t explain how she has this card.” She turned it over. “It has his home number on it. Plus she knew who he was on the television. She knew things about him.” She shrugged. “I don’t know if any of them are true, but she seemed to think they were.”

Willow was looking at the card. “What time is it in London right now?”

Joyce looked at her watch. “Almost one in the morning.”

“So call the number, his office number. He won’t be there at one in the morning. And if this is some sort of hoax, the number won’t be his.”

Xander nodded. “Someone might just be playing some major head trip on Buffy.”

Joyce tapped the card on the counter, thinking. Then she reached for the phone.

End Part 10