Family & Friends

By Laney

Giles' POV

She’s panicking.

An amusing sight, I have to say, considering she is one of the most powerful people walking the Earth.

Sometimes I still find myself stunned that the teenage girl, I met so long ago, has changed so much. Actually, seeing Willow here, I can see the teenage girl she once was. Insecure, nervous, eager to please – it’s when we’re fighting evil that I see the vast changes.

She’s truly frightening.

But when it comes to her personal life; it’s like she’s completely powerless.

“Giles, they’re going to be here any minute. Do you remember everything I told you?” she grips the sleeve of my shirt. “They don’t know about the wedding. Sam didn’t want to tell them everything at once, so if you guys let anything slip – ”

“Hey, Wills, calm down,” Xander puts his hand on her shoulder. “We know not to say anything, right Dawnie?”

“Right,” the brunette agrees. “Right Giles?”

“Quite right,” I assure the redhead by covering her hand with mine.

I wish I had Xander confidence. I’m not sure how the people, Samantha spoke about on a regular basis, are going to feel about meeting the woman responsible for their friend leaving the military. I’m still a little shocked Samantha has actually taken the final steps in committing to her relationship with Willow.

I think Willow is more shocked than any of us.

Before now, Willow truly believed she didn’t deserve anything more than what Samantha was giving her, and it frustrated us all greatly to see Willow suffer like she did. Actually, it was heart breaking. I’m just glad Buffy wasn’t alive to see it. I seriously doubt the Slayer would allow Willow to endure such heartache.

Dawn says that stopping Xander from saying something to Samantha was hard enough.

Nevertheless, I’m grateful that this day has finally come. I still remember that night, four years ago, when Willow called me, telling me that she was evil. At first I had been horrified Willow had succumbed to the dark power that resides inside of her. I knew from our constant contact that Willow struggled with those forces every day.

It was a fear of all of ours – still is – that one day Willow wouldn’t be able to fight the darkness and would become lost to it once again.

I was already planning to go to the coven when the words Willow was sobbing penetrated my rather thick skull. I realised that Willow was not talking about magic, but about a woman. Yes, I had been surprised at that revelation too. Not so much that it was a woman she was talking about, but because Willow had come to me instead of talking to Dawn, Spike, or Xander. I was both touched and confused; Willow and I formed a strong bond after Tara’s death, when I helped her recover, but I never thought of myself as her confidant.

But, as it turned out, that’s exactly what I became.

I ended up staying on the phone to Willow for hours, listening to her as she berated herself for ‘seducing’ a woman into bed. I tried to tell her she was not fully responsible but she wouldn’t listen, it didn’t even seem to matter to her that Samantha did not hold Willow completely responsible. Willow was taking the blame. After a while I gave up trying to convince Willow and ended up consoling her.

Willow and I called each other nightly after that. Suffice to say our telephone bills were astronomical, but I was more than willing to help her through her pain. It had been the first time since Buffy’s third death that I really felt needed. I still couldn’t understand why I was the only one to know about her indiscretion but, like convincing Willow she wasn’t completely to blame, I gave up and just listened.

I guess that’s why when I finally met Samantha last year I felt like I knew her. I knew so much about her and Willow’s love for her. I was the first to know about the one night stand and the first to know about Samantha’s call to her several months later.

It had been a shock to both of us.

Samantha had called to see how Willow was – at least that’s what she told Willow. We all know now that Samantha hadn’t been able to forget about Willow. The two kept in telephone contact for a few months after that, talking and becoming friends, when eventually Samantha asked if she could visit Willow in Sunnydale. Their friendship had been growing into something more over that time and I think both Samantha and Willow felt it was time to acknowledge that. It was almost a year to the day from their first meeting and, well, Willow had been beside herself.

Kind of like now.

Will Willow ever really believe she deserves this happiness? It’s doubtful. There is always something on the horizon for Willow that has the potential to destroy what she loves. Today it is Samantha’s family and friends. Willow believes that their feelings towards her will make a difference as to whether or not Samantha stays with her.

It’s always something; the military, her past… there is always a threat to Willow’s happiness.

It’s not fair, really it’s not.

“Do you think they’ll like me?” she asks in a quiet voice, barely loud enough for me to hear. “What if they don’t like me when they find out how much Sam has been lying? What if they hate me because Sam left the military – ”

I squeeze her hand. “They will love you, Willow, just like I do. I seriously doubt they will hold you responsible for the situation. Unless, of course, you wrote the Air Force regulations.”

I don’t think either one of us are convinced by my response.

There is every chance they will hate her, especially after they realise the extent of Willow and Samantha’s necessary deceit. Just two days ago Samantha broke the news to them about her relationship with Willow, but she only told them what they ‘needed to know’ – with the exception of her Jacob Carter.

Samantha didn’t want to overwhelm them with everything.

Like the fact Willow and Samantha are getting married in a month, hopefully before Willow starts to show.

Yes, show.

Our Willow is seven weeks pregnant with Xander’s child.

The official story is that she and Xander had been ‘together’ and Willow broke up with Xander, when Samantha left the Air Force, to be with the Major. The unofficial story is that Samantha and Willow are desperate for a child, a child I had been against – HAD being the operative world. I was only against it until the Air Force Major made a firm commitment to Willow.

Not that I ever told Willow or Samantha that.

When it came to their relationship, I’ve always kept my disapproval hidden from Willow. She had enough problems with Samantha’s priorities, she hardly needed me to tell her she should leave Samantha and find someone who loved her enough to put her first. Not that Samantha is a bad person, she’s not. I simply disapproved of the way she put the Air Force before Willow. I know it was necessary, but I’ve become rather protective of the redhead standing next to me and Ripper isn’t always reasonable.

Over the years since Buffy’s death, Willow and I have formed a father and daughter relationship.

Maybe not quite so much father and daughter, maybe mentor and protégé is a better term – I hardly doubt a daughter would confide in their father the way Willow did with me, especially some of the details I managed to – thankfully – forget.

Sometimes I feel I’m in the relationship with Willow and Samantha.

I’ve been privy to everything almost as soon as it happens. From the mundane to the important, I went through it all with Willow. I must say, there were times when I felt as frightened as Willow about their relationship.

Especially when Willow told Samantha the truth about herself.

It was six months after they started seriously seeing each other when Willow decided it was the right time to inform Samantha of her past.

I never told Willow this, but I had purchased a ticket to the States just in case Samantha left Willow. Which, in a way, the blonde Major did, but only for a short time – thankfully I didn’t have to use that ticket. Samantha had been deeply disturbed by what Willow had told her and needed some time to think, which was understandable. We are all disturbed by who Willow is at one stage or another.

She has enough power to end the world, how can you not fear that even though you love her?

Eventually, after several more visits and hours of discussion with Samantha, she accepted Willow.

That’s when Willow became lost.

Oh, I think Willow cared for Samantha when she confessed the truth but when Samantha didn’t leave her for good, Willow fell deeply in love with her.

I truly believe Willow loves Samantha more than she loved Tara – if that is even possible.

After the truth was revealed, we all let out a collective sigh. The only thing holding back their relationship was the distance between them and Samantha’s career. The distance was solved by Willow and Xander, more Xander than Willow actually.

Xander is the heart of the Scooby gang. While he has no mystical abilities, his love, loyalty, and bravery is what keeps everyone going – and his love for Willow is exceptional.

It was Xander who made the decision for Willow to leave Sunnydale. Being far from Samantha was putting a needless strain on an already difficult relationship. They had to hide their love, that alone was difficult enough.

So he did what any good friend would do.

He built Willow and Samantha a house.

The house where we are right now. Deep in the Colorado mountains – it is a work of art. It took Xander almost a year to complete it; he hired a lot of local subcontractors to aide him in the actual construction of the three storey house, Dawn decorated and I did my own bit as well. Willow’s home has a rather impressive library – stocked with every rare book I could find – in the basement. The array of weapons she has in the attic are from Spike and Angel.

All in all, it is a home most people would envy.

It has more than enough bedrooms for a large family and several Scoobies.

Samantha has been living here for two years while keeping her other house for show. Before retiring, she only stayed when she had weekends off. Not that Willow was lonely when Samantha wasn’t around; Xander and Dawn traveled to Colorado at least once a month, while Willow spent a considerable amount of time in Sunnydale.

But this home is still very much Willow and Samantha’s, regardless of how little time they sometimes spend in it. Just standing in the living room you can tell. On the mantle, above the fire place are a number of pictures – most of them of the two women but a number of us as well.

Which is a cause of concern for all of us.

Just one look and Samantha’s military friends will see how little they knew of their friend’s life.

If Buffy and Xander were in their positions, they would be angry as well. From what Willow told me, her three friends, Daniel Jackson, Jack O’Neill, and Murray, are as close to Samantha as the Scoobies are to each other.

Maybe we should have picked a different venue for everyone to meet.

Like that bar and grill Xander always talks about.

At least then they wouldn’t be confronted with the lies Samantha told them.

But the danger of having this meeting anywhere else is Willow. If they strongly object to Willow, I’m not sure if she’ll be able to keep her magic under control. I don’t think she would hurt someone, but when she’s emotional – especially now that she’s pregnant – she can’t always help herself.

Hopefully that won’t happen.

Samantha said everyone took the news well enough.

Including her father, General Carter.

General Carter is the reason my presence was so strongly requested, as well as moral support for Willow. I’m the ‘father’ in the Scooby family – as Xander tells me – and it’s my sworn duty to keep the Samantha’s father from ‘losing it’.

In other words, I’m to be the voice of reason, which I have no problem with.

Providing they’re reasonable.

If they’re not, then I’ll make them.

Willow is, after all, in a delicate condition. I will not have her upset.

“So, when are they going to get here?” Dawn wants to know.

Willow looks at her watch and pales. “Oh god, now,” she quickly runs to the window to see if there are any arrivals, then spins around and holds her hands out in front of her. “Do I look all right?”

“You look beautiful Wills,” Xander assures her. “You’ll have all the guys drooling all over you like a Saint Bernard.”

“Eww,” Dawn makes a face.

Yes, I have to second that.

It makes me extremely grateful that Anya is still in Sunnydale, I could only imagine what a debacle this would turn into with her.

I sincerely hope she doesn’t decide to teleport here, things are bad enough with Xander.

“I don’t want the guys drooling over me. I’m a one person drool…” she frowns as she replays her words in her mind. “That didn’t make a lot of sense. Oh god, I’m not going to make sense when I meet them! I don’t even know what to call them. Do I call Colonel O’Neill, ‘Colonel’ or Mr O’Neill. Do I salute him or shake his hand? What about her father? This is a bad idea. Is it too late to cancel?”

The sound of gravel under tires fills the room.

“They’re here!” Willow practically squeals and the next thing I know, Willow is hiding behind me.

Once again I marvel at the witch. She can face vampires and demons without batting an eye, but facing the family and friends of the woman she loves is almost too much for her to bear.

Thankfully her own family and friends will bear it for her.

 

~Fin~