SPOILER: Everything through Becoming 2
RATING: PG
CONTENT: Nothing bad. (My God, that's a first for me!)
SUMMARY: Joyce confronts the truth about Buffy. This is an introspective piece and relates a lot of history (I tried to keep it to a hopefully interesting minimum).
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of the characters on the show. Joss Whedon and the WB Network own them. No copyright infringement intended, so please don't sue.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Along with the history lesson, I throw in some of my own personal theories about vampires, slayers etc. Oh, and did anyone else wonder why the Hell Buffy invited her mortal enemy into her house?

Joyce slowly sank onto her daughter's bed, her hand crumpling the piece of paper she held until her knuckles turned white. Tears began to leak out of her eyes as she stared into the closet, empty save for naked hangers and the bag of potpourri she had bought at last year's Renaissance Festival. Her daughter was gone.

The words of the note ran through her mind endlessly.

*Mom, I know you didn't mean what you said, but I have to leave anyway. I know you don't understand. I don't have the strength to explain. I love you and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. Buffy.*

The tears were joined by sobs and Joyce buried her face in her daughter's pillows, desperately wishing it would all go away.

*****

Seemingly an eternity later, Joyce awakened. Her head pounded, her eyes and throat were sore. The sun was low in the western sky--late afternoon.

In her fear and anxiety the night before, she had only slept for an hour...and during that hour her beloved daughter had slipped into the house, packed some of her clothes and disappeared.

When she had awakened, a few hours after dawn, Joyce hesitantly had gone to Buffy's room, praying her daughter was inside sleeping or getting ready for school--wishing that this was a normal day. She hadn't really been surprised that Buffy hadn't been there, but the note had destroyed her.

The angry words she had hurled at her daughter--telling her if she walked out the door, she shouldn't bother to come back--Joyce had regretted them instantly. But, she had believed that Buffy would ignore them, would come back. Joyce had never expected this.

Her beautiful seventeen year old daughter was out there somewhere. Her beautiful seventeen year old vampire slayer of a daughter.

Slowly Joyce rose from Buffy's bed. She made use of the bathroom and hastily slapped makeup on her face, before pulling on the first clothes she came across--a simple denim skirt and white cotton sweater.

Buffy's revelation the night before had come as too much of a shock for Joyce to grasp fully. Vampire slayer? Vampires were real? Even though she had seen the man turn to dust before her eyes, she had tried to deny the truth. All night she had put off thinking about vampires and what Buffy might be doing, just trying to get through till morning.

Now she had to face it. Vampires were real.....and her daughter fought them...killed them. Her baby girl.

Joyce hadn't been able to picture it--her little girl, so young, so tiny--until Buffy had shoved her out of the way with basically a flick of her wrist. At that moment, Joyce had realized just how strong, how powerful her little girl was.

After Buffy had left, images had begun to flash in Joyce's mind. The beating Buffy had given Ted--she hadn't even broken a sweat knocking out a man three times her size. The fight at the school--Joyce could finally admit that those gang members actually had been vampires. How many had she slain that night?

Not the blonde punky looking vampire. Oh God, a vampire actually had sat in her living room chair and made feeble conversation with her!

The plans that Buffy had made with him--they had talked about Angel, Buffy's old boyfriend, and someone named Dru. For the most part, Joyce had been reeling and hadn't been listening. But she had known something very serious was happening. Too distraught by the sudden truths, Joyce had withdrawn from the intense conversation.

After Buffy had left, Joyce's mind had refused to allow anymore thoughts about vampires and slayers to wander through. So, she had sat up for the rest of the night, staring into a cup of coffee which slowly went cold, remembering images of Buffy as a baby, as a toddler, her first day of school. All the good things.

Now, she needed to face the present--the truth. Buffy was a vampire slayer. Joyce needed more answers than that. And she had an idea where to look.

*****

The school was deserted except for the occasional janitor. Joyce headed unerringly towards her destination. Deep inside her, she had always known there was something odd going on between her daughter and Mr. Giles--a part of her really hadn't wanted to think about the possibilities. Joyce had rationalized it away by believing he cared about the students so much. No teacher cared that much.

No, Mr. Giles knew something. He had to know something. If he didn't, she was about to make a huge idiot of herself.

Joyce pushed open the door to the Library and found not only Mr. Giles, but Willow in a wheelchair, Xander with an arm in a cast, Cordelia and a boy she didn't recognize. They were all huddled around a table covered in books and didn't see her as she stepped hesitantly around a chalk outline on the floor. Her mind skittered away from the thought of a dead body in the Library as the boy she didn't know tensed, twitched and looked up.

"Um, hello," he said, nudging Mr. Giles who stopped speaking in mid sentence. Everyone looked up at her, but no one seemed to know what to say.

"Mrs. Summers," Giles began, rising to his feet. Joyce winced at the sight of his face. Several scrapes marred it and there were dark circles under his eyes. She also noticed that several of his fingers were in splints.

Joyce took a deep breath. "My daughter is missing. I think you may know something about that."

Mr. Giles paled even more, if that was possible and slumped back into his chair.

"So, she didn't go home?" Willow asked hesitantly.

"She came home sometime early this morning. She packed a bag, left me a note and disappeared," Joyce replied with a calmness she didn't feel.

"Then she's alive...um alright, fine," Xander exclaimed. Cordelia hit him in the good arm, then whispered something to him.

"Well, Mrs. Summers, I'm sorry that Buffy has run away. Apparently she was expelled last night. Perhaps she just needed some time alone," Giles tried to explain.

"You don't believe that," Joyce answered coldly. "What happened to all of you? You look like you've been through a war."

"Um, minor accident. A bookcase fell over on us." Giles pointed to the upper level where a bookcase lay on its side.

Joyce pulled out a chair and sat down across from him. "Oh, I thought perhaps it was vampires."

Everyone stared at her, then started talking at once. Finally Mr. Giles held up his hand, silencing them. "Oz, take Willow home and see that she gets plenty of rest. There's nothing more you can do here, Willow," he said, staving off the argument he saw brewing in her eyes and open mouth. "Cordelia, do the same with Xander. We'll regroup here tomorrow, noon."

"But Giles," Willow protested, "we have to find Buffy."

He gave her a sad look. "We have a lot to do. But, first, I need to talk to Mrs. Summers...alone."

No one else put up a protest and quickly the Library emptied of teenagers.

"You didn't seem very surprised when I mentioned vampires. Why is that, I wonder?"

Giles looked away from Joyce's penetrating, angry eyes. "We couldn't tell you. It's not done," he said rather feebly.

"So, you know that she thinks she's some kind of vampire slayer."

Giles' eyes snapped back to her. "She is the vampire slayer," he stressed.

"Did you put this insane idea in her head? I remember you have a lot of strange, occult books here."

"No, I didn't. Buffy knew she was the Chosen One before she came to Sunnydale. Mrs. Summers, this is never easy to accept--destiny never is. You now believe that vampires exist?"

Joyce nodded slowly. "Last night, on our porch, there was this...thing. Buffy plunged a stake into it and it turned into dust. I didn't want to accept it and Buffy didn't explain very much. She kept going on about having to save the world. Why would my little girl need to save the world?"

Wearily Giles removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose, trying to think of a way to explain all this that wouldn't have her calling for the men in white coats. "What I have to tell you won't help you find your daughter."

"But, maybe it will help me understand my daughter."

Giles nodded in resignation and put his glasses back on. "I will try to keep the history lesson brief. This world did not begin as a paradise. Demons walked the earth for millennia. But, then man came and most of the demons were banished. It is said that the last demon mixed its blood with a human, creating the first vampire. It, in turn, created more vampires. Other demons and supernatural entities remained in small pockets of mystical energy. One of those pockets is here in Sunnydale. Right below this room actually."

Instinctively, Joyce glanced down at her feet, then looked back up at him.

"It's contained," Giles continued. "Slayers were created to battle the forces of darkness, especially vampires. Although at any one time there are several slayers in training, only one is chosen at a time. Buffy is the current slayer."

"But, she didn't have any training. No one came to us and told us this."

"No, Buffy slipped through the net, so to speak. When slayers were created, an organization was formed to help them, to train and prepare them. We are known as watchers. Each slayer is assigned a watcher. I am Buffy's."

"Well, that explains why you're always around. But, who did this choosing? How did Buffy get chosen?" Joyce asked.

Giles shrugged his shoulders. "No one knows. If one believes in a supreme being, it can be supposed that that supreme being had something to do with it. The slayers are all female, all born with a mole above their left...um." He blushed and stumbled over his tongue. "Anyway, although most slayers are found at an early age and begin their training, they don't develop the strength and other physical skills until they are activated, so to speak. Some never are activated. Once they reach a certain age, they are considered no longer eligible. Really, it all depends on how long the activated slayer lives."

Joyce blanched. "What do you mean, how long she lives?" she demanded.

Giles took a deep breath and grimaced at the pain in his ribs. "Mrs. Summers..."

"Please, call me Joyce."

"Joyce, there are thousands of vampires on earth and hundreds of other demons, witches, poltergeists, monsters....Slayers are not expected to live very long. They are activated as teenagers, when they are young and strong--at their most vital. Most don't survive past their teens," he said gently.

Joyce was stunned and then angry. "How dare you send my baby girl out into the world to die!?"

"I know this is hard to face. It has been hard for Buffy to face. But, she eventually accepted her destiny, as I did mine."

Joyce shook her head in confusion, trying not to picture Buffy lying in a gutter somewhere with a monster looming over her.

"While the slayers are chosen by God, the watchers are descended through several families all over the world. My family has had several watchers. It was known at an early age, that I would become one. I too rebelled against my destiny, but in the end, I had no choice. I always dreaded the fact that slayers die young. I always hoped that I would be placed with a slayer who never got activated, even though it is great prestige to be the 'one'."

"When was Buffy activated? I think she said something about two years, but I was so shocked I really didn't listen to everything she said."

"She was activated two years ago, about a month or so before the watcher organization found her, which is very unusual, but does occasionally happen. As I said, she slipped through the net. She was only with her first watcher a few weeks before he was killed, but she did very well. Burning down the gym with the vampires trapped inside was a very intelligent thing to do."

Joyce was stunned. "She burned down the gym to kill vampires? All this time, I worried she was a pyromaniac..."

"I would surmise that many of the things that Buffy has gotten in trouble for, including her expulsion last night, were because she is the slayer. It is an unfair burden, but secrecy is of the utmost importance. To protect you, she couldn't tell you the truth."

"To protect me? To protect me from going insane? This is all insane!" Joyce cried and buried her face in her hands. Rubbing her sore eyes, she glanced up again and sighed. "But, then, it's all real, too."

"Yes."

Joyce made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "So, when did you get involved?" she asked.

"The watcher organization discovered you were moving Buffy to Sunnydale. At the time, mystical energy was at a low ebb here. I've often surmised that Buffy's arrival triggered something. Anyway, I was sent here to become her new watcher. She's my first slayer, hopefully my only slayer." He chuckled softly as he remembered the first several meetings. "She certainly is a handful and nothing I was prepared for."

Silence descended for a few minutes as Joyce mulled the things he had said. Finally, she took a deep breath and asked another question. "So, what happened last night to drive her away?"

"I'm not sure." Giles gave her a rueful look and held up one of his bandaged hands. "I wasn't conscious for all of it."

"It had something to do with her old boyfriend, that young man, Angel," she said, making a slight face.

Giles sighed and winced at the memory of Angel breaking his fingers. "Unfortunately, yes. Why don't you tell me what Buffy said to you last night and maybe I can expand on some of it."

"I came home and found her on the porch with a young man--blonde, punky looking."

"Spike?" Giles interjected. "What was she doing with Spike?" he wondered under his breath in amazement.

"Yes, that was his name. I think he was a vampire," Joyce added hesitantly.

"A very dangerous vampire," Giles confirmed.

"Well, this other vampire attacked and Buffy staked him. That's when Spike mentioned Angel and I think they mentioned him again later--something about stopping him. Please don't tell me my daughter was dating a vampire," she begged, trying to deny another truth.

Giles sighed again at having to shatter her illusion. "Angel was different. You see, when a vampire is born, the demon takes on the form, the memories, even the personality of its host, but the soul escapes. A hundred years ago, Angel was cursed by a gypsy clan with the restoration of his soul. For one hundred and forty years before that he had been a monster, one of the worst of a bad lot. Afterwards, he remembered everything the demon had done, everyone he had killed. Buffy didn't know he was a vampire at first. In fact, I believe when you first met him, she still didn't know, although it came out soon afterwards."

"So, he's a good vampire?" Joyce asked.

"He was. He helped us. He protected Buffy's back. Even I eventually got used to him. They fell in love."

"Buffy told me that she loved him. When I saw him a couple of months ago, he didn't act very much in love, more like psychotic."

"Um, yes, well. By then he was." Giles reddened again. "I understand that you discovered that the two of them had...well..."

"Slept together," she finished bluntly. "Yes."

He nodded. "When the gypsies cursed him, they added a clause that if he attained a moment of pure happiness, he would lose his soul again."

Understanding swept through Joyce along with sorrow for her daughter. "Oh my God, when he and Buffy, oh my baby..."

"Angel lost his soul and reverted to the monster he had been, the demon. There was nothing left of humanity in him. But, unlike all the rest of the vampires, he knew the identity of the slayer, her family her friends. For the past several months, he has been torturing us all." Giles took another deep breath and braced himself for the pain that always came when he thought of her. "Jenny...he killed her. Put her in my bed for me to find."

Joyce winced at the hollow look in his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you," he murmured. "Unknown to all of us, Jenny had been sent here to watch Angel. She was a gypsy, from the same clan that had cursed him, but, she didn't know about the repercussions of the curse. He killed her because she was trying to reconstruct the original curse. Two days ago Willow found it on a disk which had slipped off Jenny's desk."

"Did you restore his soul?"

"I don't know. I didn't, but the others may have. A few days ago, some workman uncovered a tomb, a big rock actually, on the edge of town. It was covered in carvings. With my background in ancient and obscure languages, I was called in to investigate. I figured out what it was very quickly. It was the Acothla, a demon frozen in stone who, when awakened, has the power to suck the world into Hell. Angel and the other vampires stole the demon and planned to awaken it. Apparently they tried and failed. Angel knows a lot, but has not spent centuries gathering arcane information as the watcher organization has done. He didn't know the complete ritual."

"And he did this to you to find it out?" she asked, gesturing to his face and broken fingers.

"That and more," he replied dully. "Angel lured Buffy away and the other vampires attacked. At the time, we were attempting to restore his soul, but we were interrupted. Xander, Willow and Cordelia are lucky to be alive," he added sincerely.

"And the girl who died? Buffy said she was a slayer, too."

Sorrow crossed Giles' face. "Kendra," he said, softly. "Yes, she was another slayer. One of the vampires slit her throat. I was unconscious by then, so I didn't see it happen, but I think I know which vampire killed her. Apparently Buffy was found kneeling over Kendra's body."

"That's what the police told me. For a moment, I believed her capable of doing that," Joyce admitted in sorrow and embarrassment. "She escaped and came home with Spike."

"Did she actually invite him into your home?" Giles asked.

"Yes....You mean that whole Dracula thing is true, that they can't come in unless they're invited?"

"Yes and Buffy knows better," he replied sternly. "There's a simple spell to revoke the invitation. I'll come and perform it tonight if you like."

"Are you a witch, too?"

"I have a modest ability."

"What else happened this morning? I mean, we didn't get sucked into Hell," Joyce stated the obvious.

Giles thought for a moment. "I'm not really sure. Angel tortured me for several hours." He dropped his eyes to his broken fingers. "Finally, he got what he needed. I was in another room and suddenly Xander was there, dragging me out. I caught a glimpse of Buffy and a vampire fighting. It was daylight when we got outside and we just kept running. There was nothing either of us could do for Buffy." he added a little defensively, feeling guilty that he had been unable to help her. "A black car roared past us. The windows were partially covered, indicating vampires. Meanwhile, in the hospital, Willow continued the curse and believes she succeeded."

"So Angel now has his soul?"

"Possibly. When Buffy didn't show up at school this morning and there was no answer at your home, the possibility that she and Angel had gone off somewhere came up. But, you said she came home for her clothes?"

"Yes. Her note didn't sound like she was running off in love with her boyfriend." Joyce repeated what the note had said.

Giles gave her a sad look. "There is another possibility, and until we find Buffy we may never know the truth. If Angel succeeded in freeing Acothla, the only thing that could stop the destruction of the world, was his blood...and him. She would have had to stab him and pin him to the statue. He then would have been sucked into Hell."

"If his soul had been restored, would she be able to do that?" Joyce asked, trying to accept all that Giles was telling her.

"Buffy is a lot stronger than she looks. To save the world...to save you? Yes, I think she could send him to Hell."

"How can you live after you kill the person you love?"

"Oh, he's not dead," Giles explained. "You can't kill a vampire by stabbing him with a sword, even a mystical one. But, if this did happen, he is in Hell, and if he does have his soul....he suffers a worse fate than I could ever have devised for the demon who killed Jenny."

Joyce leaned back in her chair, deep in thought and worried about her daughter. She knew she should probably call the police, but what would she tell them? They'd laugh at this story...at the truth. Oh God, this was the truth.

The last scales fell from her eyes as she fully accepted.

"My daughter is the vampire slayer," she said softly, with pride.

The End

Author's Note: Okay, I know it ended a little lamely and I really tried not to make this a history lesson, but I wanted to see how Joyce would handle the truth. I also know that Acothla is probably spelled wrong. I also glossed over Kendra being a slayer on purpose--I didn't want this to drag on for another couple of pages with Giles relating all of Buffy's escapades. I wasn't in the mood to search for the movie, so I'm not sure about the location of the mole. I also know the title is lame, but that's something I really suck at.
Hope you liked it.