Truth and Consequences (1/2)

[keeper444@xxxxxxxxx (Alex)]

This is the first of a couple of sequels to
A Higher Power.
I hope you like it.
Later
Alex
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Title: Truth and Consequences (1/2)
Author: Alex
Feedback: Please any comments or suggestions to: keeper444@xxxxxxxxx
Archive: Whatever or whoever Just tell me
 Summary: Sequel to A Higher Power
Spoilers: Still don't know still haven't seen that much of the show 
itself. Seque to A Higher Power. 
Disclaimer: The characters of Buffy Willow Giles and any others from 
BTVS are the property of Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy etc. No
infringement of any kind intended. 
Notes: Bittersweet Memories 

***denotes flashbacks***
<>thoughts<> 
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Title: Truth and Consequences    (1/2)
Author: Alex 
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....................................... 
    Buffy lay sprawled across Giles big overstuffed couch
watching Willow at the desk Giles had st up for her and her computer.
      
    Willow was in deep research mode, pounding away at the
keyboard and staring intently at the glowing screen, the printer humming
steadily reproducing the information Willow was finding in her boundless
cyber-universe. 
    Sometimes Buffy found herself getting jealous of the time
Willow spent with her computer it was hard not to, it was the only time
that it seemed Willow forgot she existed. 
    She shifted uneasily at her feelings. 

    <>Get a grip girl.<> she told her self <>it's just a machine
for gods sake.<> 

    Buffy settled back and relaxed knowing it would be hours
before she'd be able to pry "Computer Girl" away from her work station.
  
  She smiled lovingly at the petite red head, to Buffy everything
Willow did was adorable. 
    She lay back and closed her eyes thinking of how much their
lives had changed in the last three months. 

      <>It's funny<> she thought <>We thought it was tough
admitting how we felt to each other Boy were we wrong.<> 

    The first hurdle had been explaining their relationship to
the gang but as it turned out the only one the least bit surprised was
Giles. Everyone else's reaction had more or less about time. 
      Apparently everybody knew how they felt about each
other long before they'd realized it themselves. 

***   "Is that all you got us here for?" Cordilia said " That's so old
news, people don't even talk about it anymore." 

    "What do you mean 'old news'." Buffy asked more than a
little perturbed by the strange turn of events. 

    "Well for one thing the two of you have been so gooey eyed
over each other that even Giles noticed." Cordilia laughed ignoring
Xander's elbow nudging her in the ribs "and you know if it's not written
in some old dusty book Giles doesn't see it. 
      I mean look how long it's taking him to realize that
he and Buffy's mom have the hots for each other." 

    "Cordy please!" Xander yelled at his tactless girlfriend
trying to save the man any further embarrassment. "Nobody made you the
'love police'." 

    Giles was so shocked and flustered he couldn't speak. 

    "What are you talking about?" Buffy 
exclaimed "Giles and my mother, really?" 

    "That is neither here nor there." Giles spoke up trying to
regain some control over the conversation "What Joyce and I feel or do
not feel for each other is not the issue at here, the issue at hand is
Buffy and Willow and how they want to deal with their relationship."


    "I think what the G-man is tryin' to say is," Xander said
attempting to translate "now that you two have finally figured out how
you feel about each other, which I think is great might I add. 
      Are you going to try to hide it or are you going to
out yourselves before someone does it for you." 

      "Precisely," Giles agreed If you are going to live
your lives out in the open, then I would urge you to inform your parents
first if for no other reason than respect for their feelings.    
  This is not something they should learn from someone else." 

      "Oh goddess." Willow gasped "I forgot all about my
parents." 

      "Don't worry Will." Xander reassured her almost too
cheerfully "We're here for ya'." 

      "Quite so." Giles spoke up. "We ALL will give you what
ever support you need." 

      Giles and Xander both gave Cordilia a dirty look. 

    "Of course WE are," she said defensively 

      "Oh great " Buffy muttered under her breath "With
Cordy on our side how can we win."*** 

    Not all their friends had been quite so understanding. 
  While Buffy didn't have many 'friends' to begin with many of the 
people she had become friendly with since starting college suddenly
didn't seem to remember who she was or had pressing business else where
every time she was around. 
      Some even made the mistake of getting aggressively
hostile over the subject, a mistake they never made twice. 
      People she didn't even know would stare at her when
she went by like she had two heads or something and she swore if she
heard the words 'fucking dyke' whispered behind her back one more time
she was going to hurt someone bad. 
      Bad as it was for Buffy it was many times worse for
Willow.   People that had been her friends since grade school had
turned their backs on her. 
    Buffy had spent several nights sitting up holding Willow while
she wept over some mean spirited hurtful comment one of her supposed
friends had said. 
    That was the time that it took every bit of restraint both
Buffy and Xander had ,to keep them from hunting the jerk down and giving
them the beating they so richly deserved, but Willow wouldn't let them
and she recruited Cordilia to help her, even though Cordy felt the same
wy they did. 
      She could understand why people would act that way
about Buffy but even she couldn't figure out why anyone would hurt
Willow on purpose. 
      At the time Buffy couldn't see how things could get
any worse for them. 

    She was wrong.

    The next hurdle they decided to face was Buffy's mother.
Taking advantage of Giles promise and his personal relationship with
Joyce Summers they decided to have the conversation at Giles place,
giving them a kind of home field advantage. 
      Buffy thought she'd remember that evening as long as
she lived.
First the four of them went out for dinner then back to Giles
townhouse for drinks. 

*** "Have a seat Joyce." Giles said indicating a large overstuffed
leather chair "Make yourself comfortable. Would you like something to
drink?" 

    "A white wine would be nice Rupert if you have it." she
answered wearily 

    "Certainly," he said then turned to the two girls on the
couch "What would you two like, tea, soda, coffee?" 

    "A soda would be great." Buffy said her voice actually
cracking a little 

    "Me too please." Willow was so scared she squeaked 

    When Gies had left the room Joyce turned to face her
daughter and Willow. 

    "Alright you two," she began "are you going t tell me what
this is all about or do we sit here beating around the bush all night
until I go crazy and beat the truth out of you. Before you answer
remember you may be the high and mighty Slayer but I'm still your
mother." 

    They heard a glass break in the kitchen so they knew Giles
had heard. The girls sat in stunned silence until Giles returned with
their drinks and a large glass of scotch for himself, he foresaw a long
night ahead. 
    Buffy took a long drink from her coke and a tight grip on
Willow's hand 

    "Well mom..you see..I..ah..we.." Buff began unsteadily "I
mean Willow and I well..ah..we've been friends for a long time." 

    "Yes, this I already know," Joyce said firmly "get on with
it young lady what has happened" 

    <>This is definitely not the way I planed this<>Buffy
thought frowning slightly <>Why can't I just say it.<> 

    "Just a minute, let me finish," Buffy plead "this isn't easy
for me mom." 

    Her mother heard the desperation in in her daughter's voice
and sat back trying not to push her too hard. 

    "Okay like I said," Buffy began again "We've been friends
for a long time and well no matter how much stupid stuff I've done,
running away, getting in trouble, blowing up stuff, even darting a
vampire, and getting her hurt, Willow has always been there for me,
taking care of me comforting me never judging me just backing me up and
giving support and..." 

    "and Buffy's always done whatever she could for mr too."
Willow added "so..." 

    She looked to Buffy and Joyce could see the love in that
look and deep down she already knew where this was going. 

    "so" Buffy took back over "so while we didn't mean to, I
mean nobody does this on purpose it's too hard, they'd have to be a
moron to do this on purpose, what I'm trying to say is that sometime
while all this was going on our feelings for each other changed, kind of
evolved into something more than just best friends. What I'm trying to
say is Willow and I..we.. I mean..she and I.." 

    "Love each other." Joyce finished for her daughter. 

    Buffy could almost feel the silence that fell over the room
at her mother's words. No one said anything for what seemed a very long
time, the only sound any of them heard was their own heart beat pounding
in their chest. 

    "I wish..ah well..we.." Buffy stammered then she stopped and
took a
deep breath. 

    <>Get a grip girl!<> she told herself <>Your the Slayer damn
it you've faced demons from hell and legions of the undead and your
afraid to tell your mother you've found your one true love.<> 

    "Buffy?" Willow whispered 

    "It's alright baby I got it covered." Buffy reassured her
"That's right mother, we love each other. I know it's not what you
wanted for me ad you probably don't approve but I'm hoping you of all
people can see past that." 

    "Is it that important to you Buffy?" her mother asked a
slight catch in her voice "Are you sure that this is what you really
want? I mean you've never given any indication that you were anything
other than a heterosexual." 

    "It's not that mom." Buffy explained "I'd love Willow
whether she was male or female. I've thought alot about it and talked to
Wills about it and I think I've figured it out." 

    Buffy had hoped her mother would let it go at that and not
force her to explain any further. 
  "Okay honey tell me " Joyce said leaning forward trying
desperately to understand her daughter's choices. "I really do want to
understand." 

    "Putting sex aside, because it's really not all that
important ." Buffy began ignoring Giles' and her mother's raised
eyebrows. "I fell in love with Willow the person, she's smart, she's
kind, she's sweet, she's caring she listens when I ned to talk, she
talks when I need to hear someone's voice, and when I wake up in the
middle of the night screaming from the nightmares with this god forsaken
destiny it's Wills that holds me in her arms and lets me know I'm loved
and none of the nightmares can hurt me cause my Wills is there to
protect me." 

        Buffy stopped unable to continue overwhelmed by
the love she felt for the petite girl beside her. She put her face in
her hands trying to hide her tears from her mother. Willow put her arms
around Buffy and pulled her close trying to comfort her. She began
rocking Buffy slightly and gently stroking her hair as she felt Buffy's
body tremble and shake wracked by uncontrollable sobs. 

    "Hush now Buffy" Willow crooned softly to the crying girl,
just like she did when Buffy had her nightmares. "It'll be alright now
Your Wills is here. I've got you sweetheart nothing can hurt you now." 

    Tears flowed freely from Buffy's mother's eyes as she
watched the two girls across the room. The honest open love she saw
between them caused an ache in her chest. She felt Giles come over and
sit on the arm of her chair and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. 

    "You know it's true Joyce." Giles said softly enough so that
only she could hear. "Look at them, have you ever seen so much devotion
between two people, No man could ever love her half as much as Willow
does. I know I have watched her go from one relationship to another
trying to find exactly what she has right now wit Willow." 

    "I can see that Rupert " Joyce told him "It's just hard for
a parent to see their child setting themselves up for as as much
heartache as those two are headed for. People they thought were friends
will tun their backs on them, even people in their own families will
reject and ridicule them. Knowing that I can't protect her from that is
tearing my heart out right now but I don't know what to do." 

    "Listen Joyce," Giles began again "all you can do without
loosing your daughter is accept her as she is and support her in any way
possible. That is the best and most you can do. As for their friends, I
am proud to say they count me in that group, and believe me for the most
part their true friends not accept them, most of them knew that Buffy
loves Willow before the girls knew themselves and the girls came out to
them so to speak and so far there have been few changes." 

"Please Mrs.Summers" Willow said so softly she could barely be heard. 
"Please don't hate us and don't turn away from us. Buffy needs you, I
need you, Buffy and I have talked about this a lot and we know we will
face some bad times with the way people are and all. I'm not even sure
my parents will be able to accept it but we thought we could count on
you.
You already know about destinies and we learned that this was all a
part of our joint destiny we thought you'd understand."

 
    Buffy's mother pushed herself out of her chair and rushed
over to the two girls and fell to her knees in front of them and put her
arms around them both.
She held them not saying a word. The three women stayed like that for
several moments and Giles took that as his cue to leave. He slipped
quietly out of the living room and went to his study. 
    After several tries Joyce fund her voice. 

    "I could never hate either of you Willow." Joyce sniffed :It
was just..well.. a shock is all. You guys kind of sprung this on me.
I mean I came in here afraid that my daughter was dating another
vampire or was pregnant by some creature of the night.
Give me a little time okay. If I can get used to being the mother of
the Chosen One, getting used to you two being together will be a piece
of cake.
All I ask is that you're sure this is what you want and that you tell
your parents Willow it wouldn't be fair to have them find out from
someone else."**** 

    That was all Buffy's mother said and within a week she was
reasonably comfortable with her daughter and her red haired lover, in
fact she considered them both to be her daughters. 
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End trans 1/2
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No matter where you go - there you are.
                   ~Buckaroo
Bonzai~ 
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The second worst tragedy in the world:
Not getting everything you want. 
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The worst tragedy in the world:
Getting it. ~Oscar Wilde~