Stating The Obvious
Part Five
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Nope, still haven't shaken the habit. These things are worse than heroin.
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"We could just keep on driving," Giles said as he turned onto Revello Drive. "Skip the whole thing."
"We have to tell her," Buffy said firmly. "She deserves to know, and I don't like lying to her."
"I know. I do think we should have had her over to the apartment rather than do this at your house, though."
"Why's that? You want the home field advantage?"
"There is that," Giles agreed. "Mostly it's because after we told her, I'd have had at least a three second head start while she worked out which of my drawers holds the knives."
Buffy laughed. "She's not going to kill you, Giles." She thought for a moment. "Well, I won't let her kill you, anyway."
"Oh, that's very reassuring," Giles said as he pulled into the driveway.
"I aim to please," Buffy said, stepping out of the car. She waited for Giles to join her, and they walked up the path to the front door.
It opened before they got to it, and Joyce smiled out at them. She embraced Buffy and ushered the both of them inside.
Dinner was ready almost immediately. Roast beef, potatoes, carrots, and homemade bread. It was excellent. Dessert was apple pie and was even better. The conversation was bland and pleasant, and Giles and Buffy found themselves relaxing and forgetting to be worried about what they had come to say.
Until the dishes had been cleared away and everyone sat down in the living room for coffee.
"There was something you wanted to tell me tonight, wasn't there?" Joyce asked, as she poured milk into her cup. She was sitting in the armchair.
Giles and Buffy shared the couch. They looked at each other, and their anxiety and uncertainty came rushing back. Giles gave Buffy a shaky smile. She returned a smile of her own, and tried to send reassurance and love along with it. Giles' smile grew wider.
Buffy turned to face her mother. "It's like this," she said, then trailed off.
"Like what, honey?" Joyce asked.
"I... I don't really know how to say this," Buffy said, trying again.
"Well," Joyce said, "you could just come out and say it. Something like 'Mom, Giles and I are sleeping with each other.' That might work." She sipped at her coffee.
Giles choked on his, and dropped the cup, spilling it all over the coffee table.
Buffy, for her part, didn't move. She didn't breathe. It was as if she'd completely shut down.
Joyce looked at the two of them. Giles was trying desperately to mop up spilled coffee with his napkin, and working even more desperately not to meet her eyes. Buffy was simply staring at her, almost catatonic.
She sighed and put her cup down on the saucer.
"Yes," she said, "I know."
"How?" Buffy managed to ask, snapping out of her trance. Her eyes were wide with panic.
Joyce's face was calm, and there was no emotion in her voice as she said, "I was out running some errands the other day, and I thought I saw Giles' car at a light. I was all ready to wave, but then I saw that the people in it were kissing. All over each other, really. And one of them looked like Giles, and the other one looked like you.
"I thought I had to be mistaken, so I tried to put it out of my mind. But it kept nagging at me. I was going to ask you about it, but I didn't want to upset you. So I called Willow."
"Oh, dear," Giles said softly, still not looking at her.
"Willow didn't sell you out," Joyce said. "I beat around the bush a lot, asking if you two had been spending more time with each other, that sort of thing. I could tell she knew what I was actually asking, but she kept saying nothing unusual was going on. So I called Xander. And Anya answered the phone."
"Oh, no," Buffy said, still staring in shock.
"Oh, yes," Joyce said. "I asked her the same questions I'd asked Willow, whether you'd been spending more time than usual with each other, and Anya said it was probably because of all the sex you've been having, and that you should just admit it and tell everyone, already. Xander grabbed the phone away from her and tried to deny it, but it was too late. I knew. I know."
The three of them sat quietly for several minutes. Giles and Buffy caught each other's eyes several times, but had no idea what to do. Joyce sat calmly through the silence.
Finally, Giles spoke. "You're certainly taking this well," he said.
"Yes," Joyce said. "I am. I promised myself I wouldn't yell."
"Oh," Giles said. "So that's the only reason you haven't...?"
"One of the reasons," Joyce said, when he trailed off.
"I love him, Mom," Buffy whispered, bringing Joyce's eyes to hers. "And he loves me."
"I do," Giles said. "I love her."
Tears were falling from Buffy's eyes, but she made no move to wipe them away. Joyce closed her own eyes and sighed heavily.
"I was hoping you'd say that," she said after a moment, opening her eyes and looking at her daughter.
"Really?" Buffy asked, clearly not believing her.
"Really," Joyce said. "It's the best I can see coming of this, at least. When you called me last night and said you and Giles needed to talk to me, I knew it had to be about this. I was ready to scream loud enough to bring the house down, believe me. But I promised myself I wouldn't.
"And then when you got here, I watched the both of you. I saw how you acted towards each other during dinner, and I began to hope it was better than I'd thought. And when you looked at each other before you tried to tell me, I really started to hope. Your eyes... I could tell it was more real than I'd feared. More genuine."
"It is," Buffy said, "it really is. It wasn't at first, but now it is. I love him. We love each other." She reached over without looking, and Giles took her hand.
"You have to believe us," Buffy pleaded.
"I do believe you," Joyce said.
Buffy smiled, and her tears redoubled. She reached up and wiped them away with her free hand.
"You believe us," Giles said, "but how do you feel about it? About us?"
Joyce turned her gaze to him. "I'm not ecstatic, if that's what you're asking. But I suppose that doesn't matter." Her voice was still calm.
"What do you mean?"
Joyce frowned thoughtfully. "For two years now, I've known Buffy is a Slayer. Every time she leaves the house, I have to wonder if I'll ever see her again." She looked into Buffy's eyes. "It's a wonderful thing you do, Buffy, but I wish every night that you didn't have to do it anymore. That no one had to do it."
"I don't want you to worry," Buffy began.
"Well, I do. There's no way I can't. I worry about you every day. It's only the fact that you have Willow and Xander and Giles and the others to help you that lets me sleep at night."
She looked at Giles. "You and I have... History, is the only word that comes to mind. I don't care about that anymore. There are only two things I care about. You'd die to protect her, wouldn't you? Even before this, I mean."
Giles nodded instantly. "I would," he said. "Even before this." He lifted Buffy's hand and gave it a squeeze.
"And you really do love her?"
"With all my heart."
Joyce nodded. "Then I give you my blessing, or whatever it is you want from me."
"You do?" Buffy asked.
"Yes," Joyce said. "I've been thinking about it a lot, the last couple of days. I think it must feel this way to have a child who's a police officer, or a fire fighter, or a soldier. You don't ever know if you're going to be alive from one night to the next, do you?"
"No," Buffy said, tears still leaking from her eyes. "Not really."
Joyce nodded firmly, and she, too, began to cry. "Then all I want is for you to be happy, honey. If Giles here can make you happy, I don't care about anything else. Nothing else matters."
Buffy jumped up from the couch and threw herself into her mother's lap. They clutched at each other and cried together.
Giles stood up, very carefully and as quietly as he could, and walked into the kitchen. He busied himself with the dishes, and he was just finishing up when Buffy's arms came around him and she pressed herself against his back.
He turned in her arms and looked down at her. Her eyes were red and her cheeks were wet with tears, but she was smiling. Joyce stood in the entrance to the kitchen. She was smiling through tears, as well.
"You take care of her," Joyce said. "And you make her happy."
"I will," Giles promised.
Joyce nodded, and no one said anything for a time.
Then Joyce said, "Oh, there was one more thing Anya mentioned, that I was wondering about."
"What is it?" Buffy asked, turning to look at her mother.
"Who won the pool?"
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END 5/7
On to Part Six