Story: What If, Book 1 (3 of ?)

[willow_25]

Whoops.  I went to post Ch 4 here, and realized Ch 3 wasn't up.  So sorry.  Enjoy!

A/N: Hey, look everybody, I can write Dru!  Who knew, right?  Please read, and review, and let me know what you think.

 

Chapter 3

Three days went by in relative peace after the Harvest.  Buffy finally gave in to Giles' request to train with him, and if he was less athletic than Merrick, he was totally helpful in getting back to her training regimen.  They hadn't heard from William, Angel, or the woman Giles told her was named Jill; but Giles reminded her Jill and William would wait until he was fully healed before coming to them, and as Jill said at the Bronze, it might be a few days.  Vampires healed more slowly from wounds inflicted by wood, especially close to the heart.  Angel was a mystery neither of them could get a handle on.

 

That night, while Buffy headed to the locker room to change, planning to swing by the Bronze on her way home, the library phone rang.  Giles froze in mid-motion, his attempt to replace his swords in the book cage forgotten.  It was either the Council, or the mysterious Jill.  No one else would call so late.

 

The Watcher picked up the phone hesitantly, feeling foolish as he did.  It wasn't like something would jump out at him though the line.  He was a bloody wanker, that was all there was to it.  "Hello, library."  Giles answered the phone, hoping his voice sounded steadier than it felt.

 

"Rupert Giles?  This is Jill Walker, we met at the Bronze?  The night of the Harvest?  I'm calling to discuss a meeting with your Slayer?"

 

Rupert smiled.  The young woman was nervous, probably terrified he'd sick the Council's wetworks team on her for consorting with a vampire.  "Yes, Miss Walker, it's good to hear from you.  Buffy has been most anxious to see you and your vampire companion again.  We both have many questions."

 

"Buffy?  Oh, is she the Slayer?  I didn't get her name.  What kind of name is Buffy, anyway?  Is it short for Elizabeth?"  Jill's rapid fire questions drew to a stop.  "I should probably let you answer one or two before I ask more questions, huh?"

 

Giles couldn't hold in a chuckle.  "It's quite alright, I'm sure you have as many questions for us as we have for you. Yes, Buffy Summers is the Slayer; and Buffy is her given name, odd as it may seem.  It might be better if we save further inquiries for our meeting.  Are you available to stop by the High School tomorrow night?"

 

Jill smiled and nodded, then felt like an ass for doing so.  Not like he could see her.  "Yes, tomorrow is fine.  Would it be possible to ask one more question?  Who were the other teens at the Bronze with you?  Do they help Buffy regularly?"

 

Rupert cleared his throat.  He was still having a great deal of trouble with Buffy's friends wanting to be involved.  He sympathized with the fact that she was a social creature, and wanted to be around people her own age and be honest with them, but it went against every rule he'd learned for training the Slayer.  "Well, er, yes, they have been helping.  I had hoped to minimize their involvement, but…"

 

"Mr. Giles, don't worry, I'm not going to freak out and bust on you, I think it's great that the Slayer has some help, however it happened.  I just wanted to let you know that if they intend to be around, then you should ask them to be at the meeting.  The Slayer's…Buffy's family as well."

 

Giles stiffened.  He's followed the Council's advice in forbidding Buffy to explain her calling to her mother, as had her previous Watcher, although on just a few day's acquaintance he could see how difficult it was for Buffy to keep the secret.  It had begun to prick at his conscience, but he was attempting to play by the rules as much as possible.  This posting was what his family had always wanted for him; he wasn't about to be dismissed and bring shame to the Giles line…No matter how stuck up and Medieval that sounded.

 

"Buffy lives alone with her mother, her parents were recently divorced.  It is Council policy that Slayers should have as little contact as possible with their families, though Buffy is already a special case, in that she was not identified as a Potential prior to…"

 

Jill sighed.  "Mr. Giles, I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but I know a great deal about the Council of Watchers.  I assumed the family knew little or nothing about the girl's calling.  I still would like you to invite the Slayer's mother to the meeting.  Tell her it's about Buffy's text books, or she misbehaved in study hall, or whatever.  I'll explain it all tomorrow, but I need you to have some faith.  Plus, if you think about it, your Slayer is under a great deal of extra stress if she has to hide her calling from her mother.  She needs someone to understand; otherwise the pressure alone might break her."

 

Giles felt a fissure of fear run up his spine.  He couldn't imagine the vibrant girl he watched over; with her flippant dismissal of authority figures, and perky effervescence; as a broken shell of a warrior.  Rupert knew it was possible, though.  His father had been the third Watcher of a Slayer, and the girl had only survived months under his tutelage.  Harvey Giles had often commented that the poor girl had no personality, no will to live.  It had been a miracle, he said, and a testament to her fighting skill, that she lasted three years.

 

So, Rupert Giles made a decision.  That would never be Buffy.  She had a strong will, and he would not try to break it.  This strange woman was right; the Slayer was very young, and didn't need extra pressure.  This was why Slayers usually lived with their Watchers, so they had someone who understood their lives, and so their families weren't involved.  That would be impossible with Buffy, so the only logical way to make life easier for his Slayer was to confide the secret to her mother.

 

Giles wasn't a trusting man, and he didn't know Jill Walker from Adam, as the saying went.  The other night, he'd seen enough of the woman to know that she had some powers of her own, and that she was practical and calm under pressure.  She would either become a great ally, or a dangerous enemy.  If he handled the situation correctly, with caution, he could use the contact with Jill and her vampire companion to discover their secrets, and still keep Buffy and the other children safe.

 

"Yes, alright, I'll speak to Joyce tomorrow.  Although, I do not feel confident about exposing her to a vampire's presence."  Giles replied hesitantly.  He'd come around to the idea of telling Buffy's mother about her calling, but that didn't make him feel any better about telling the woman her daughter was destined to die young, or possibly getting the woman eaten by a vampire.

 

Jill chuckled. "Don't worry about William, Mr. Giles, the last thing he'd do is drain the Slayer's mom.  We'll see you tomorrow after sunset.  About 7:00?"  Jill was pleased that he'd agreed to get the Slayer's mother involved.  Well, he'd agreed to tell her about her daughter, anyway, and that was a huge step in the right direction.

 

"That will be fine.  We shall be assembled in the high school library, awaiting your arrival."  God, I sound pompous, Rupert thought.  Sometimes, he scared himself with the thought that he was becoming his father.

 

As he said his final farewells and hung up the phone, Giles was startled by a scraping noise in the stacks.  "Hello?  I say, is someone there?"  He allowed his voice to show his fear, while silently grabbing a crossbow from under the front desk and pointing it in the direction the noise had come from.

 

"No need to fear, Watcher, I'm not here to hurt you."  Angel stepped forward, just enough so that the human could see his outline, and aim the weapon correctly.  "I'm here to pass along some information.  Do some reading up on William the Bloody, the Slayer of Slayers.  It'll be useful when he shows up here tomorrow."

 

Giles felt light-headed as the figure he'd just barely spotted faded back out of sight.  What in the name of God had he gotten them all into?

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Jill turned to face Spike, who was hovering in her office doorway.  "Well, he's agreed to have us over to the high school tomorrow night for a Q&A, and to invite the Slayer's friends and her mother."

 

Spike nodded, and lit a cigarette.  "Well, that sounds like progress.  What about the father?  He around?"  Being used to dominant women, Spike was perhaps more sensitive about men being excluded from things.  Not like he'd admit that as he disintegrated.

 

Jill shrugged.  "The Slayer, whose name is Buffy, by the way, lives alone with her mother.  Rupert said her parents got divorced just recently."

 

Spike snorted.  "Buffy?  Bloody ridiculous name, that.  So, she's short one pap, ey?  Think the divorce was timed around her gettin' called?"

 

The woman looked up from her computer screen, where she had been typing up some notes for the big meeting, to study the vampire filling her office with cigarette smoke.  He'd come a long way since the day they met, but sometimes she still had trouble following his erratic thought patterns.  Jill thought part of it was the vampire demon warring with the person William had been before he was turned; but whatever the cause, the effect was that he seemed to have ADD.  His current slouching, smoking concentration was a rare thing, indeed.  After three days spent mostly in bed, he should be climbing the walls, in her experience.

 

Jill stopped staring when Spike noticed and started waggling his tongue at her.  "Anything's possible, Spike."  Jill replied, smiling at his antics.  "Even white Wiccans and soul-less vampires living together in peace and relative harmony."  Jill returned to her typing, William's laughter echoing in her ears as he left her alone to check on Drusilla.

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Drusilla curled up on her pretty, blood-red window seat, hugging her knees to her chin.  She was tired.  Always tired, now.  Her dark prince would not let her eat the cakes, but brought her gruel instead.  There were no children to join her tea parties, only the pretty white lady who gave Princess no milk.  She was sad, and lonely, and her prince was not in the dark anymore…No, he was in the dark, silly Princess, he would fall all to ashes without the dark; but he reached for the light, he wanted the Sunshine, though he didn't know it yet.  He dreamt of the Sunshine faded long ago and far away, and not the morning Sunshine that would take him from her…

 

Dru moaned faintly, rocking herself and fighting the tears that fell down her cheeks.  Her Spike would be so sad, to see her cry.  He hated to see her cry.  She tried to be a brave, good girl for him, but nothing pleased him anymore.  Not since Paris.  She'd always loved Paris, but now all the toys were broken, and the shiny streets cracked beneath her.  They made her dark prince fly.  He was well and truly caught, and soon he would fade away all together.  He'd always loved her so gently, protected her after her Daddy and Grand-mum left; how was she to go on without him?

 

"Princess?"  Spike's soft voice came out of the air behind her, startling Dru into her demon face.  She turned her head to look upon her only surviving Childe, her dark prince.  He was so lovely, but not hers anymore.  He was fading away as she watched.  She'd taken her sweet boy to her breast, freed him from worries and loneliness, but the pixies hadn't told her another crawling thing lived inside him, slithering and sliding and making him shake and quiver.  No one lived who knew, until she'd spotted the white witch in a café, and knew the white lady would take her Spike along the bumpy road.

 

Drusilla smiled, smiling would make him happy.  Inside, she ached.  He had been a present from her Daddy, a boy of her very own, no need to share with Grand-mum.  She hadn't seen his hurt.  That the slithery-thing would make him wail and curse himself.  It was hard to see, until the white lady had released it.  Now it was always there, keeping all his beautiful destruction locked inside.  It was almost as bad as the spark they'd shoved into her Daddy.  Her lovely boy would not play in pools of blood with her anymore, wouldn't hold her head under the water, which was such fun.  But she tried to accept and be good, because this was the truth of her Spike, her dark prince, her William.  He was who he was, now.

 

Dru closed her eyes and tried to be happy as Spike sat beside her and pulled her into his arms.  She tried, but she wasn't happy anymore.  Her prince was going away to a land of Sunshine and lollipops, just like in the pretty songs; he was going to be with the other slithery demons, under the other side of the sun.  Drusilla could not follow, because her Spike would belong there, and she would not.  Just like he no longer belonged here with her.

 

She sighed and breathed in the comforting smell of her boy.  She missed her Daddy.  He would make it all better.  Daddy would take care of her when Spike had gone.  He had to.  He was her Daddy.  No spark could make that go away.

Comments

[sharoncs.livejournal.com]

Good...

Although, to switch it up a bit, maybe you should try writing about Yetis.

;-)

[draconin.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I always find that authors tend to find Dru's character very hard to put across on paper. I've noticed that a lot simply avoid her. I think that she was very much a visually based character, and if you have to convey her via the written word only it becomes far harder: there's a very fine line between being true to JW's version and going over the top. Mind you there were times when I felt JW's writing put her over the top!

To me the classic Dru line is when the Judge has absorbed his victim and she shouts "Do it again! Do it again!" (Hope I'm remembering that right.) She was the classic enthusiast of blood, mayhem and gore with a childlike enjoyment of it.

[willow-25.livejournal.com]

Dru is tricky - The craziness, viciousness, childlike enjoyment, and old-fashioned manners all combine into kind of a mess. It's hard to decide on an aspect, or combination of aspects that can be represented in words. I was trying to create a Dru who was essentially the same as we first saw her on Buffy, and yet slightly changed by the changes in Spike.

I do kind of love playing with her. Especially the 'visions' aspect of the character.