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From: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com (buffyfic-digest)
To: buffyfic-digest@lists.xmission.com
Subject: buffyfic-digest V2 #352
Reply-To: $SENDER
Sender: owner-buffyfic@lists.xmission.com
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Precedence: bulk
buffyfic-digest Wednesday, October 14 1998 Volume 02 : Number 352
In this issue:
BUFFYFIC: Full Disclosure (2a/3) by tj thwaites
BUFFYFIC: Full Disclosure (1b/3) by tj thwaites
See the end of the digest for information on (un)subscribing to the buffyfic
or buffyfic-digest mailing lists and on how to retrieve back issues.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 19:02:12 -0600
From: tthwaite@banff.net (tj thwaites)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Full Disclosure (2a/3) by tj thwaites
Title: Full Disclosure (2/3)
Author: tj thwaites
E-mail: tthwaite@banff.net
Archive: Anya's of course. The mailing list archives, okay. All others
please ask. I'll give you the go ahead, but I just like to know where my
stories are going.
Rating: PG-13, some violence but no worse than an episode.
Spoilers: up to Bad Eggs
Summary: In the aftermath of the incident with the Bazoar, Joyce is having
nightmares. And things are about to get worse.
Disclaimer: The characters we all know and love from BtVS belong to the
Great God Joss. I'm just playing in his back yard for a bit. Also, you'll
probably recognize the stuff from various episodes in the flashback scenes.
(muchos gracias to AleXander for his wonderful work on the Transcripts
available on the Slayerfanfic Archive)
Feedback: Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated at
tthwaite@banff.net. I'll even read flames, but don't expect a reply to
combustable messages.
Now, on with the show---
Full Disclosure
by tj thwaites
(aka tj the dyslexic ferret)
=====
Angel kept to the shadows as he silently patrolled the night streets
of Sunnydale, following Buffy's usual route. He didn't really mind hunting
in her stead while she was grounded. But sometimes he felt a little
uncomfortable doing it. Even if his targets were vampires and not humans,
the thrill of the chase appealed too strongly to the demon he constantly
fought to control.
His head snapped up and his game face slid into place momentarily. The
faint breeze carried a familiar scent; one that would be undetectable to a
human. The bloodlust pheromone markers of a hunting vampire. Angel
quickened his pace slightly. He was getting closer. And even if this chase
ended with the dust of a staked vampire, a successful conclusion would help
appease the demon in him.
=====
The Gallery- 8:15 pm
Joyce Summers wearily locked the front door, glad this day was almost
over. The unexpected arrival this afternoon of several new pieces for the
Gallery had complicated her day far more than she'd realized. Updating the
inventory list and trying to plan arrangements to show the new pieces had
taken her a little longer than she'd allowed for. And her arms and
shoulders ached from the shuffling and maneuvering she'd been doing since
closing at six.
All Joyce wanted right now was to get home and fall into a nice, hot bath.
Head down, her hand fishing in her purse for the keys to her Jeep,
Joyce walked to the parking lot beside the Gallery. The hand grabbing her
roughly as she passed the edge of the building came as a rude shock. Her
assailant jolted her into the shadow of a dumpster along the side wall of
the building and shoved her violently against the cinder blocks.
Joyce screamed, her eyes relaying to her terrified mind the grotesque,
distorted face of her attacker as his hand locked around her throat.
"Hardly enough to share," growled a voice from a second thug emerging
from the shadows, "Couldn't you have found a meal that wasn't so skinny?"
"We can always go looking for seconds," Joyce's attacker replied, "The
night has just begun."
Joyce struggled feebly, both hands desperately trying to peel away the
hand holding her throat in a vise-like grip. Her heart pounded in her
chest, her lungs burned as the choke hold cut off her breathing. Her vision
started greying out, stars appearing in her narrowing field of view.
A faint roar penetrated to her fading consciousness and the hand at
her throat disappeared. Joyce fell to her knees, gasping. Her chest
heaving, great ragged breaths sucked desperately into her lungs, Joyce was
only faintly aware of the sounds of a violent fight going on just a few
feet away.
"Here!" a vaguely familiar voice commanded, thrusting a long pointed
piece of wood into her hands.
Joyce looked up as her rescuer was tackled by one of her assailants,
the two men rolling into parking lot. She jumped to her feet with a small
shriek at the appearance of a dirty, worn pair of boots. Her back against
the wall, she held the stake in front of her, its point the only available
weapon at the moment. The man wearing the boots advanced, seemingly
unconcerned by the point now only inches from the center of his chest. She
turned her head frantically, looking for an escape route. Over the shoulder
of the man in front of her, Joyce saw her rescuer launch a spinning kick at
the other thug, sending him reeling into the first one.
The impact was hard enough to impale both men on the stake in her
hands, crushing Joyce against the wall briefly. Both men suddenly vanished
in a cloud of dust. Joyce's eyes almost bugged out of her skull in
disbelief. The stake fell from her numb hands as her arms dropped to her
sides.
Angel paused, slightly taken aback by the sudden end to the fight. The
demon in him screamed for blood, focusing on the pounding heartbeat and the
fear radiating from the woman Angel had just saved. He fought back the urge
to kill, to feed, with some difficulty.
[Have to remember to feed *before* I go patrolling for Buffy,] he
thought, [Or one of these nights I might get carried away.]
As Angel regained his control, his human face reasserting itself, he
finally looked at the now-dusted vampires' intended meal. He barely managed
to keep his jaw from hitting the pavement in surprise. The Fates must be
indulging a really twisted sense of humour tonight.
"Are you okay?" Angel asked Joyce quietly.
The question rattled around in her mind for several seconds before
its meaning penetrated her shock. Joyce lifted wide eyes from the pile of
dust slowly settling onto the ground at her feet. The face of her rescuer
was familiar.
"Come on," Angel said gently, "Let's get you home. I'll drive."
Angel quickly retrieved Joyce's fallen purse and keys. He guided her
to her Jeep and settled her into the passenger seat. He crossed around to
the driver's side and climbed in.
"You're Buffy's friend," Joyce said as he started the engine, "Angel,
isn't it?"
"Uh hunh," he replied, putting the Jeep in gear and driving into the
street.
Silence descended as Joyce's shocked mind tried to come to grips with
the attack. Angel glanced at her pale face a few times as he drove to
Revello Drive, grateful that she didn't ask any more questions.
[Damn!] he thought, [This is a Hell of a mess. Explanations are going
to be tough. And Buffy'll probably go postal when she finds out her mother
was attacked. Again.]
=====
Buffy's room
"...When I killed the Mother Bazoar, all the hatchlings must have died
as well," Buffy said, pacing around her room, "By the time I climbed back
out of the hole in the floor, everybody was passed out on the floor. And
all the little wigglers must have just let you go and you all collapsed.
Giles came up with the 'gas leak' story. Not bad for the spur of the
moment, but if anybody starts really remembering stuff...."
Willow lay on Buffy's bed, listening as the Slayer went over the same
ground again. Willow was sympathetic to Buffy's worries over her mother's
nightmares, but this was the fourth or fifth time Buffy had gotten herself
wound up since the two girls had arrived at Buffy's house. And again,
Willow tried to deflect Buffy's train of thought before she made herself so
tense she started bouncing off the walls.
"I think the girls will probably pass it off as just bad dreams,"
Willow offered, "After all, they said they only had a couple and that they
couldn't really remember what they were about."
"But what about my Mom?" Buffy asked, still worried, "What if her
nightmares keep coming? What am I going to tell her if we have to try and
explain what really happened?"
"Maybe we won't have to," Willow suggested, "All the girls stopped
having them. Maybe Giles is right, she's just having a stronger reaction
because she's the only one who's a Mom."
"I hope so, Will," Buffy said, "I really do. But I'm still worried."
Buffy's pacing led her back to her window. She glanced out just as the
headlights of her mother's car turned into the driveway.
"She's home. Will, I..." Buffy chopped herself off as she saw her
mother climb out of the *passenger* side. Her jaw dropped when Angel got
out of the driver's side.
She didn't have time to wonder why Angel had driven her mother home.
Three vampires rushed from the bushes. Buffy flipped open her trunk of
Slayer supplies that sat under the window, quickly grabbed a pair of stakes
and launched herself out the window onto the porch roof.
Willow hurried from her position on Buffy's bed to the window. She saw
Buffy leap from the porch roof as two vampires attacked Angel and the other
went for Buffy's Mom. In the light of the streetlights, she could see the
third vampire's face. Lyle Gorch. Willow grabbed a weapon from Buffy's
trunk and ran to the stairs.
=====
"Well now, little lady," Lyle Gorch sneered from behind Joyce, one arm
wrapped around her throat, "I changed my mind. It's not over just yet."
Joyce stared at her daughter in disbelief. She'd seen, but couldn't
accept, Buffy's leap off the porch roof. That had to be at least a fifteen
foot drop, and Buffy had landed with a cat-like grace on the concrete walk.
Barefoot. Joyce's eyes widened further when she saw the stakes Buffy held
in each hand.
"Let her go!" Buffy commanded, stalking determinedly toward Lyle and
her mother. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Angel holding his
own against both of the other vamps. He looked like he was okay for now and
she could concentrate on dealing with the remaining Gorch brother.
"Time for a little payback, Slayer," Lyle snarled, "You got my brother
killed."
"If you two lame-brains hadn't come after me in the first place,"
Buffy retorted, "He wouldn't have gotten eaten by the Bazoar. So don't
blame your stupidity on me. If you don't let my mother go right this second
and get your sorry ass out of town, you are going to be *so* staked."
"Bring it on," Lyle growled, suddenly shoving Joyce, spinning her up
against the side of the Jeep and leaping after Buffy.
Buffy, abandoning her usual pummel-them-stupid-first routine, met his
attack with a flashing right, plunging the stake directly toward his heart.
Her aim was knocked off target when one of Angel's attackers was sent
crashing into her. The stake rammed into Lyle's stomach instead. He rolled
sideways away from her left handed swipe, hissing in pain. Buffy kicked,
catching the other vamp in the chin. Stunned, the vamp was an easy target.
Buffy turned from the cloud of dust to face Lyle again. Behind him,
she could see Angel and the last vampire rolling together on the ground,
neither able to gain an advantage. The brief distraction this caused
allowed Lyle to pull the stake from his belly and renew his attack. Buffy
saw stars from the haymaker he landed on her jaw. She staggered back a few
steps before regaining her balance.
She met Lyle's predictable pursuit with a forceful kick, robbed of
some of its effect by the fact that she was barefoot. But it was still
enough to double him over, even without the benefit of a solid bootheel.
Her right uppercut practically lifted him off his feet, sending him
staggering. Buffy quickly stepped forward while he was still off-balance,
her left hand rocketing out to bury her other stake in his chest.
Lyle Gorch vanished in an explosion of dust.
The snarling growls focused Buffy's attention on the last vampire,
locked in a close struggle with Angel in the center of the front lawn. They
stood practically toe to toe, both punching viciously. Neither one seemed
the least concerned with any sort of defense, they were totally focused on
the attack.
"Angel!" Willow shouted from the front doorway, "*DUCK*!"
Angel immediately dropped to the ground.
THWANG!!
Willow's aim with the crossbow was right on target and the last
vampire dusted as the bolt thudded into his chest. Angel leapt to his feet,
quickly scanning the area for any more vampires. Unfortunately, his game
face was all too visible in the light of the streetlamps. Joyce fainted.
"Mom!" Buffy cried, rushing to her side.
Willow and Angel quickly joined her.
"I think she just fainted," Willow concluded after a brief examination.
"I'll get her inside," Angel offered, gently lifting Joyce in his arms
and carrying her to the house.
He set her down gently on the living room couch while Willow went to
the kitchen to get a glass of water.
end part 2a
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Noel:"Disappointment doesn't kill."
Abby:"Right. Rejection kills. Disappointment only maims."
-- "The Truth About Cats and Dogs"
An optimist sees the glass half full
A pessimist sees the glass half empty
And a realist understands that soon he's going to have to wash the glass
In a world of shit you hold your nose and swim.
Don't worry about the bullet with your name on it, worry about the one
addressed "to whom it may concern".
@-}-}-- tj thwaites @-}-}--
@-}-}-- tthwaite@banff.net @-}-}--
@-}-}-- Box 2890, Banff, AB, T0L 0C0 @-}-}--
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 19:01:57 -0600
From: tthwaite@banff.net (tj thwaites)
Subject: BUFFYFIC: Full Disclosure (1b/3) by tj thwaites
"That wasn't you," Buffy hastened to reassure her best friend, "It was
that thing controlling you. But, if you do remember bits, I wonder how many
others do? And what about the gas leak cover story? Will it hold up?"
"I think we should make some discrete inquiries to discover if anyone
does remember anything," Giles suggested, "Why don't you two find Xander,
and possibly Cordelia, and ask around. I'll consult my books to see if I
can find anything relating to the incident. We'll meet here again after
school ends?"
"Yeah," Buffy agreed, "I have to be here anyway. I'm still grounded
and Mom wants me to stay here, doing my homework until she comes to pick me
up on her way home from the Gallery."
Buffy and Willow headed out of the library to search for Xander, while
Giles headed up into the stacks. He turned at the top of the stairs to
watch the two girls leave the library, doubtful that he would find any
positive information about this development. The information available on
the Bazoar was limited.
=====
The rest of the school was fast becoming deserted since the final bell
rang twenty minutes ago, but the library was nearly as crowded as it ever
got. Buffy and Willow sat on one side of the center table wearing matching
expressions of concern and unease. Xander and Cordelia sat on the other
side, for once not exchanging charged insults with each other.
Giles paced relentlessly around the table, absently chewing on one
earpiece of his glasses.
"So," he summarized, "It appears that certain people involved last
week have had nightmares about it."
"Yeah," Willow confirmed, "Megan, Sharon and Debbie all admitted they
had a few. But not in the past few days."
"And Jennifer and Diane might have," Buffy added, "But all they would
cop to was 'having trouble sleeping'. I'm willing to bet it's because of
nightmares even if they won't admit it."
"This is *so* typical," Cordelia huffed, "Your weird world rears its
ugly head again and *other* girls are having nightmares, while you go on as
always."
"Give it a rest, Cordy," Xander practically snarled, "I'm surprised
you have any concern at all. It's not like you have any maternal instincts
to appease."
"Wait a moment," Giles said, cutting off Cordelia's undoubtably
indignant response, "Everyone who's had nightmares is female?"
Buffy and Willow sat up straighter in their chairs, exchanging a
glance. They hadn't noticed that earlier.
"You're right, Giles," Buffy remarked, "They've all been girls. There
has to be some reason for it."
"Definitely a possibility," Giles confirmed, "And Xander's admittedly
snide remark about maternal instincts may offer a clue as to why your
mother seems to have been affected so badly. She was the only woman of the
adults co-opted."
"But why would only girls be remembering anything?" Willow asked.
"The information available on the Bazoar is limited, but states
definitively that the hatchlings take over a host by neural clamping. It's
possible that the neuro-physiological differences between the sexes may
account for the discrepancy," Giles hypothesized.
"Neuro-what?" Xander asked.
The ringing of the library's phone interrupted any further
explanations. Giles crossed over to the checkout desk to answer it.
"Library. Rupert Giles speaking......Hello, Mrs Summers.....Yes, she's
here. One moment."
Giles wordlessly held the receiver out for Buffy, who was already
halfway to him after hearing the it was her mother.
"What's up, Mom?" Buffy said into the phone.
"Buffy," her mother's voice replied, "Something's come up. The
Gallery's just received a shipment a few days early. It looks like I'm
going to be stuck here late tonight."
"How late?"
"I'll probably be here 'til eight, at least," Joyce explained, "So I
want you to go straight home. Are you okay with getting your own dinner?"
"Sure, Mom," Buffy confirmed, "I'm sure I can find something in the
fridge to munch on. But, can Willow come over? We've got a major trig test
coming up in a few days and I could use some study help."
"All right," Joyce allowed, "As long as you two actually *do* some
studying. Don't spend all your time discussing things I probably don't want
to hear about."
"I promise, Mom," Buffy vowed, "Boys, clothes, and gossip will not
overwhelm the fascinating world of incomprehensible mathematics. Much."
"I'll be checking when I get home that you at least have your homework
finished," Joyce threatened.
"All right. All right," Buffy laughed, "We'll do our homework first.
Boy, sometimes you can be a real slavedriver. You know that?"
"Sometimes I feel like I *need* a whip and a chair with you," Joyce
sighed, "Now remember, straight home, and you're not to leave the house
once you get there."
"I know, I know," Buffy said, "I'm still grounded. And I can deal.
I'll see you tonight, Mom. Bye."
"Bye, sweetheart," Joyce added.
Buffy hung up the phone and turned back to the interrupted discussion,
changing gears rapidly.
"So, Giles," she began, "You were saying? Why is the whole deal with
the Bazoar still affecting my Mom?"
Giles blinked; surprised once again with the speed at which Buffy
switched between the teenager and the Slayer.
"And in English this time, G-man," Xander interjected.
"Hmm? Oh, yes. Well, there is medical evidence that the physical
structure of the brain differs between males and females. Perhaps those
differences are responsible for some of the girls, and your mother, being
able to remember portions of that night. I am encouraged by your reports
that the other girls' nightmares have stopped. Hopefully, your mother's
will, too."
"But why is she still having them if they stopped with the others?"
Buffy asked.
"That's where those 'maternal instincts' that Xander mentioned so
disparagingly may play a part," Giles explained, "Your mother was the only
one affected who was...well, a mother. I suspect that the nightmares may be
more severe for her because she has a child of her own she cares for very
much. She did, after all, hit Spike over the head with an axe to protect
you. From that incident alone, I'd say her maternal instincts are very
highly developed."
"Then I guess you don't remember her nearly bashing my head in with a
pick down in the basement that night," Buffy retorted hotly, "That thing
had total control of her."
"That may be why your mother is having a harder time dealing with the
incident," Giles explained, "The Bazoar was probably able to gain a deeper
control of her since she has a child of her own. It would have been able to
harness her protective instincts, we've already seen that she is willing to
put herself to great risk for you, Buffy, and pervert them to protecting
its own offspring."
"And this means?" Buffy pressed.
"It just may take a little longer for her to recover from the incident
than the other girls," Giles offered.
"But why do only some of the girls remember?" Cordelia interjected, "I
don't remember anything."
"I'm afraid I don't have any explanation," Giles said quietly, "I'm
not up on the current biological theories of the differences between the
sexes and the brain."
"Estrogen levels," Willow spoke up suddenly.
The others stared at her. Willow blushed slightly, but reached out and
turned her computer on. She called up the project she'd been working on at
lunch and quickly paged through her research notes. Finally finding what
she was looking for, she gestured for the others to look.
"There are studies being done to find out just what kinds of
differences there are," she began, "There have been indications that guys
do better at some specific spatial tasks, but girls seem to do better at
some language and memory things. But the part that might explain the
nightmare thing is a couple of studies that show that different hormone
levels seem to have an effect, too. The same test subjects got different
scores on the same kind of test at different times during their cycles,
scoring better during the low estrogen level part."
"In English, please, Will," Xander begged, "You know I nearly flunked
bio last year."
"I hadn't considered that angle," Giles mused, "So there is evidence
that the different hormone levels at various stages of the menstrual cycle
can have an effect on memory?"
"Menstru....." Xander muttered, "Ick, I don't think I want to
understand this part."
"Well, the studies are fairly new," Willow explained, "And they aren't
certain how significant the connection is, but there does seem to be one."
"So? What?" Cordelia asked, "All the girls who can remember anything
are only doing it as a side effect of PMS?"
"In a manner of speaking," Giles said, "While these studies Willow
refers to note only a tenuous connection, the mystical influence of the
Hellmouth may be amplifying that connection in this case. That would also
explain why only a few of you do remember anything, the difference in
timing, as it were."
"Okay," Buffy added, "Let me get this straight, some of the girls
remember bits because they happened to have the right levels of whatever
hormone on that night. And my Mom just happens to have been one of the
lucky few, right?"
"I believe that may be the case," Giles confirmed, "Fortunately, the
nightmares seemed to have faded away for the other girls. Hopefully, your
mother's will also."
"But what if she keeps having them, Giles?" Buffy insisted, "What if
they get worse? What if she *does* start to remember?"
"I'm not sure," Giles hesitated, glancing at Willow.
"What?" Willow asked, "Why are you looking at me?"
"You say you had only the one nightmare?" Giles questioned.
"Well, yeah," Willow replied, "But I don't see the connection."
"If you haven't had any since Buffy and Xander explained things, then
perhaps...." Giles trailed off.
"We might have to tell my Mom the truth in order to stop hers," Buffy
finished for him, "That could be a dicey thing, Giles. She might not
believe us. And even if she does, how do we explain how we found out about
it?"
"This is not good," Willow muttered.
"I'm sure we'll be able to think of something," Giles offered, "It
might not come to that. You did say that the other girls' nightmares have
stopped. There's no reason not to assume you mother's won't, as well."
"I guess," Buffy conceded, "But I'm still not happy with this whole
sitch. C'mon Will, let's get going to my house. We'll stop at the store on
the way. If I'm going to have to attempt to wrap my brain around trig, I'm
going to need some quality munchies to fuel the effort."
"Food?" Xander chimed in.
"Down, boy," Buffy chuckled, "The Walking Stomach isn't invited to
this one, sorry."
"So I have to fend for myself. Again," Xander griped, "You know I hate
math. How am I supposed to deal without The Great Brain to help? And Mother
Hubbard has a feast compared to the my kitchen's prospects."
"I can come by later, Xander," Willow offered, gathering her knapsack
and joining Buffy at the door, "Okay?"
"Great, Will," Xander smiled.
After Willow and Buffy had left, Cordelia leaned over and whispered to
Xander.
"So, no one's home at your place?"
Xander nodded to her, not quite following her train of thought.
"You must have a couch that's more comfortable than the utility
closet," she added, sotto voce.
The light clicked in Xander's mind. He smiled broadly.
"Let's go," he said, standing.
Giles was dragged out of his introspection of nightmares by the
library door closing behind the departing teens. With a small shrug, he
turned toward his office. There was a cup of tea calling his name.
=====
END PART 1
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Noel:"Disappointment doesn't kill."
Abby:"Right. Rejection kills. Disappointment only maims."
-- "The Truth About Cats and Dogs"
An optimist sees the glass half full
A pessimist sees the glass half empty
And a realist understands that soon he's going to have to wash the glass
In a world of shit you hold your nose and swim.
Don't worry about the bullet with your name on it, worry about the one
addressed "to whom it may concern".
@-}-}-- tj thwaites @-}-}--
@-}-}-- tthwaite@banff.net @-}-}--
@-}-}-- Box 2890, Banff, AB, T0L 0C0 @-}-}--
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------
End of buffyfic-digest V2 #352
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