__Mom__
By Gibberish



           Eventually, the choice to tell Joyce was taken from their hands. About two weeks after Buffy died, Joyce came to see Giles one night.

 Giles opened the door and found Joyce with a medium sized cardboard box. He took the box from her and gestured her in. "Hello, Joyce."

 Joyce indicated the box. "I thought you might like to have them."

 Giles set the box on his desk and opened it. He stared in shock at the contents. "Joyce," He looked at her. "I don't ..." He pulled Mr. Gordo out of the box and held him.

 Joyce smiled sadly. "Buffy compared you to him once. She called you the two constants of her screwed up life. Then she rambled for a while, afraid that she'd hurt my feelings, but I understood."

 Giles smiled at the image she described. "She loves you very much." He said, unaware of his choice of tense.

 Joyce winced. She pulled a small ring box out of her pocket. "Buffy mentioned that you'd been in touch with Angel. Could you ...?"

 Giles took it. "I'll see that he gets it."

 "Thank you." Joyce said.

 "Thank *you*." Giles returned. "It's very kind of you to ..." He gestured to the boxes.

 "How are you?" Joyce asked. "Really?"

 "Joyce, there's something that I need to explain." Giles said hesitantly. "About Buffy, she ..."

 The door flew open and Buffy stumbled in. "Big, ugly, green. Sound familiar..." Buffy's words trailed off, when she saw her Mom. "Mom?"

 Giles caught Joyce when her knees went out from under her. He led her over to the couch and sat her down. "Buffy, water."

 Buffy ran into the kitchen and did as she was told.

 Joyce looked Giles wide eyed. "She's ..."

 "A vampire." Giles said gently. "She was afraid. She didn't want you to be afraid of your own daughter."

 "Is she ...?"

 "She's quite herself." Giles explained. "A little darker perhaps, otherwise the same. She hated not telling you, but she was ..."

 "A coward." Buffy said as she brought her the water. "I didn't want you to see me ...  different." She handed Joyce the glass.

 "I don't understand." Joyce said, after a sip of water. "How?" She looked at Giles. "You said it wasn't a vampire."

 "It wasn't." Giles told her. He looked at Buffy. "Is she aware of the events surrounding the, er, Spring Fling?"

 Buffy shrugged. "Sort of. She knows I died. Not when or how or anything."

 Joyce's face grew paler as Giles explained the events of the night of the Spring Fling. She looked at Giles with a glare. "How could you make her do that?"

 "Actually, I had to knock him out to keep him from going in my place." Buffy told her Mother.

 Joyce looked aghast. "You knocked him out? Buffy." She admonished.

 Buffy shuffled from one foot to the other. "It was the only way to stop him." She mumbled.

 Joyce put a hand to her forehead. She put her hand down and looked at Giles. "Do I want to understand this any better?"

 Giles gave her a half smile. "I suppose that all you really need to understand is that she *is* Buffy. She's a vampire, true, but she will not turn evil. Her soul is not a curse, as Angel's."

  "She's ... She's really ... All right?" Joyce asked hesitantly.

 "She's Buffy." Giles assured her.


   Buffy turned to Giles after Joyce left. "She didn't ask me to come home." Buffy said sadly.

 "Buffy." Giles said with a shake of his head. "I think she's had a bit of shock to deal with. Besides, how could you go home? How would she explain it?"

 "I'm haunting her?" Buffy tried. She went on at his look. "All right. Sheesh. It's just ... I've missed her."

 "I know." Giles said gently. "You can visit with her now, though." He fiddled with the box that Joyce brought. "Did you want to go home?"

 "No." Buffy said softly.

 Giles looked at her. "I've gotten rather used to you being here."

 Buffy smiled. "I'd miss you, too."




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