Memoirs of a Watcher short ficlet

[maryperk73703]

Giles writes a secret letter on his deathbed.  Part of the Memoirsverse.  Giles entry for Hollydb's jossverse LJ.

I, Rupert Albert Giles, being of sound mind and weak body, hereby leave this written account of the true fate of my Slayer, Buffy Anne Summers.

I should have known there was something between my Slayer and Spike after I interviewed both Angel and Xander about the fight on that long ago Halloween night. The Halloween when my old friend, Ethan Rayne, came to town, bringing Chaos with him. Angel told me about Spike stroking and caressing Buffy's hair as he went in for the kill. Later, Xander related how, after knocking Spike to the ground, Buffy just stood staring at him, rather than going for a weapon.

A year after the Halloween incident, Buffy reluctantly informed me about the truce between her and Spike in taking down Angelus. She was so incredibly nonchalant about the whole thing. I think the thing that surprised me the most was when she refused to revoke his invite to her house. Why on earth would she be worried that he would be insulted? I tried to talk to Joyce, Buffy's mother, about doing a revoking ritual, but she told me that she liked the 'young man' and wouldn't mind if he came to visit her again.

I was blind and you should have heard them. They were both so bloody happy and I knew it was wrong, just like my blindness. Why didn't Buffy stake Spike when he arrived on my doorstep? What is it about this particular vampire that makes her forget her duty as the Chosen one? She's had him under her stake so many times and yet, each time, the little bugger seems to escape. Even as William the Bloody spit, snarled and threw my entreaties back in my face, why does he stay? What is it about my Slayer that makes these Aurelian vampires fall under her spell?

He loves her! She protests and denies, but it's just for our benefit! She thinks I can't see through her feigned disgust, and he just smirks at her posturing, pretending to be hurt. I can see through him, too. She knows better, though. Buffy learned her lesson with Angelus. I am confident that my Slayer will not let Spike into her life any more than she already has. I can always stake him if it comes to that.

Buffy's gone. Nothing has been disturbed. I have contacted Angel and the Council, but neither party can find any evidence of her location. The local demons know nothing, and it appears that Spike has disappeared, too. Dawn is the one that made us stop looking for her sister. She told us that we had no place in Buffy's life now, and to leave them alone. We tried to get more information out of her, but she became tight lipped. She never again brought up the subject, not even later when she became a Watcher to her own Slayer.

I took custody of Dawn after a failed search to find Hank Summers. We stayed in Sunnydale until it was destroyed in the battle with the First Evil. Faith died in that horrendous battle. I can't watch another charge of mine die. England and research is my future now. Dawn and I are going to England, and I believe that Willow and Tara will soon follow us. Xander and Anya have made plans to move to Washington State to take over the construction company of a friend.

Dawn joined the Council immediately after university. She rose through the ranks like a star. I would like to take responsibility, but I know the kudos belong to Buffy for her years of being the Slayer. When Dawn got her own Slayer to watch, we went out to celebrate. Willow and Tara joined us, and later Xander and Anya called with congratulations. The tulips -- Dawn's favorite flower -- that arrived a few days later made me think that our girl had a secret admirer. When I asked about them, she snapped that it was none of my business. However, I was able to catch a glimpse of an emblem of a raven stamped onto the card.

Inquiries about the emblem brought me to Lord Chesterfield. He informed me that the emblem in question had been used by a now extinct branch of his family. William Jamison and his mother, Anne, disappeared from society in 1880. This was strangely followed by a rash of unsolved murders of William's peers by a railroad spike wielding individual. Have I found Spike's family? I wonder if Angel's still mad at me for not sending Willow to help that employee of his. What was her name? Winifred Burkle; that was it.

Dawn has the same cancer that took Joyce from our lives. I promised myself that I wouldn't see another one of the 'children' die before it was my time, but it appears the PTB are working against me. The Council paid for all the expenses, of course. Hospital bill, burial, headstone, and flowers; no expense spared. However, I have since learned that every year, without fail, on Dawn's birthday, a shipment of tulips are delivered to the cemetery to be put on her grave.

I haven't told the others of what I suspect; that Buffy is alive and well and living with Spike. Xander's theory is that Spike was faking his love for my Slayer, and that the blond vampire finally figured out a way to kill her. No one else listens to him, though. None of the girls believe him. I can hear the eye rolls across the telephone and the emails that we exchange.

Do you think they know that tea roses remind me of my grandmother?

 

Comments

[louise39.livejournal.com]

Memoirs of a Watcher short ficlet
Exquisite. Or I should say handsome since it is a gentleman's words. Clear-eyed at last, Giles seeing and keeping his secrets except for this journal.
A happy ending for Buffy and Spike!
Your words have just the right touch of stiffness that would indicate Giles' voice. Splendid.

[maryperk73703.livejournal.com]

Thank. I'm glad you enjoyed the ficlet. I have plans to do an entire Verse with this idea.