Duty Or Destiny - (14) Secrets Revealed - Part 1

by Tasha

Chapter Summary: The next morning after Chapter 13. Jenny Calendar wakes up and has to decide what she will do. Will she tell Giles and Buffy about Angelus? Will she return to Romania? Joyce, after finding out that Buffy didn't return home the entire night, gives in to her fears enough to call Rupert Giles. Spike, Buffy and Giles react to the two phone messages on Giles' machine, and they realize a few things about the Slayer.

Disclaimer and Distribution notes are listed on the Index page of this story.

Jenny Calendar rearranged the folded clothing in her suitcase. She knew exactly where every piece needed to go to make the most room for everything. Even modern day gypsies were used to a bit of traveling. Her last 2 years in Sunnydale had grown on her. She dared to establish deeper attachments to some people, and now her heart was paying the price.

Jenny Calendar, the techno pagan computer teacher, would be no more. Jana of the Kalderash clan would be reintroduced to the clan and the world. She had no idea how Angel lost his soul, and that lack of knowledge would make her case before the elders even worse. She worried about what would happen to her if she couldn't prove that Angelus' return was not due to her negligence. Her clan took family honor and duty quite seriously.

Jenny picked up the phone and dialed the familiar number. She'd kept her distance from Rupert Giles since the Eyghon incident. She considered being possessed by a demon as a sign that she should reconsider her pursuit of the tweedy Watcher. She was not without her secrets, but she feared what else might be in his past. Despite all of that, she wanted to say goodbye and warn him in some way.

After four rings the answering machine kicked in. She waited for the beep before she started talking, "Hello Rupert. I really hate to leave a message like this on your machine, but I don't think I can call you back later. You won't be able to get a hold of me either."

Jenny switched the receiver to her other hand and continued, "I was only here for a temporary assignment, and it seems that I'm being recalled home to Romania. Be careful, Rupert. Something terrible is coming. Don't trust Angel. He isn't who you think he is."

"I'm sorry we couldn't work things out between us. Please be careful," Jenny repeated her warning before she hung up the phone with a heavy heart.

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A very tired Rupert Giles turned over in his sleep. The sun had already risen a few hours ago, but he was exhausted. His mind vaguely heard the phone ringing, but his body refused to awake from slumber.

Downstairs, the two supernatural beings also remained deep in their slumber. Buffy stirred a little when the phone rang, but Spike pulled her tighter to his body. So, both of them remained asleep and oblivious of the caller's message.

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(England many time zones ahead of Sunnydale, Watcher's Council)

"Sir, we seem to have a problem." A man dressed in a stylishly designed tweed suit hurried into the office of the head of the Watcher's Council.

"Good evening, Higgins." Quentin Travers' smile was a genuine one. He liked the young operative, and he'd taken the young man under his wing for training. "What seems to be the problem?"

"We can't locate the new Slayer, Sir," Higgins said timidly.

"We already know Kendra's replacement was in Italy." Quentin sat up straighter in his chair and held the edge of the desk to pull himself forward against it.

"Annette's Watcher reported his Slayer's death this afternoon. She was robbed and shot by a gang last night, but she did not pass on until later today."

"Humans killed her?" Quentin was shocked and outraged that the new Chosen One died so quickly and at the hands of humans instead of demons. Kendra lasted at least 6 months before she perished on the trip from Jamaica to Sunnydale.

"Yes, Sir. Antonio's Watcher report was quite clear on that. Unfortunately, we are not able to locate the next girl who was called."

"There has to be one somewhere." Quentin frowned. He'd nearly jumped for joy at the announcement of a second Slayer being called during Buffy Summers' brief death. He refused to think that they were only lucky that one time.

"A stronger aura resides in Sunnydale, but there is no evidence that it is from a second Slayer." The young man twisted his hands together nervously. He'd been lucky so far to dodge the elder Watcher's anger. "The Seers have been searching for hours already."

"Then have them search longer." Quentin Travers slammed his hand on the desktop. "I refuse to believe she is the only one left. We had 2, and we should still have 2!"

"Yes, Sir. We'll keep looking." Higgins was already backing up to make his departure as quickly as possible.

"Don't come back until you've found my Slayer, Higgins." Quentin turned his chair away from the door.

Rupert Giles' reports on the Sunnydale Slayer displeased the Head Watcher. Buffy Summers was far too independent and free willed for his liking. Souled or not, her attachment to Angel was a disgrace to her calling as well. He preferred a more molded Slayer like the treat they'd gained when Kendra was unexpectedly called.

Travers pondered what steps he'd need to take towards Miss Summers if there was only one Slayer again. If they were only allowed to have one Slayer, he didn't want to be stuck with Buffy Summers.

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(Sunnydale)

Joyce Summers woke up with a dry mouth and headache. She turned over onto her back. Her muscles ached while she attempted to stretch out from the more fetal like position she woke up in. She rubbed the back of her hands over her puffy eyes. She blinked open her eyes. The digits on the clock told her that she'd somehow managed to sleep for a few hours, but she still felt worn out.

"8 am?" Joyce practically jumped out of bed. Her stiff muscles protested every movement. She made it to Buffy's door in record time despite the pain. She knocked and waited. After a couple minutes without an answer she knocked again and slowly opened the door.

The morning light shone through the open bedroom window. The bed was neatly made. Everything looked exactly the same as it had in the middle of the night when she last checked.

'Maybe she went right to school from Willow's house,' Joyce thought to herself. It was something that had happened before. She wondered how many times the redhead covered for Buffy. She was curious to know if Buffy's closest friends knew about her Slayer status.

Joyce closed the door and went back to her bedroom to get ready for the day. She tried to put her worries over Buffy's absence to the side, but something niggled at the back of her mind. It wasn't until she was putting the final touches on her breakfast that she realized it was Saturday.

"I've got nothing to worry about," Joyce tried to calm herself quietly. "She's probably still at Willow's because she was afraid I'd wake up when she got home so late."

Joyce nervously dialed the phone number for the Rosenberg's and waited for an answer. "Good morning, Mrs. Rosenberg. This is Joyce Summers, Buffy's mother." She was more formal with the woman because she really didn't know her all that well despite their daughters being best friends. "Buffy's not at home at the moment, and I couldn't remember if this was her weekend to study with Willow or not."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Summers, but Buffy isn't here. Willow has already been down for breakfast, and she was alone. I'm sure I would have heard both of them if she was here."

"All right. Thank you, Mrs. Rosenberg." Joyce's hands shook as she hung up the phone. 'If Buffy isn't with Willow, where could she be?' She briefly thought about Buffy's friend Xander Harris, but Buffy never used the excuse of being at his house before. That meant his place was one of the least likely places for her to be. She'd used the library, working on a project for Giles, as an excuse before though.

Joyce opened the address book on her desk. She rubbed the pad of her thumb over a newer entry in the book. 'Should I call him?' The reasons for calling or not calling Rupert Giles were pretty even in her mind. She'd wanted to wait for Buffy to tell her everything, but her fears were overriding her desire to respect her daughter's privacy.

At the home of Rupert Giles, the phone rang for the second time within an hour. It was a highly unusual occurrence, and the answering machine clicked in to take the call.

"Mr. Giles," Joyce's voice started off firm, but the longer she spoke the shakier it got. "My name is Joyce Summers. I believe you know my daughter Buffy."

"She didn't come home last night, and she's not at Willow Rosenberg's house either." Joyce paused a moment to decide what to say next. She only hoped that she was right about his association with Buffy, or the high school librarian was going to think she was crazy. "I have discovered that Buffy has some unique talents. I am also fairly certainly that you are aware of this too. If you could please call me back as soon as possible, I'd appreciate it. I just want to know if my baby girl is safe or not. We can talk more about her talents after that."

The answering machine beeped three times and reset itself to take any future calls after Joyce hung up.

Buffy's head stretched up and over the back of the couch. Her slowly awakening and groggy voice muttered, "Mommy?"

Spike gradually opened his eyes when he felt Buffy stir for the second time in an hour. "Pet?" He pried open one eye fully to look at her. "Whatcha looking at luv?"

Buffy alternated rubbing her eyes with one hand and covering a yawn with the other. "I thought I heard my mother's voice." She looked around the area. There wasn't any sign of her mother. She was about to lay back down when she noticed the red light blinking on Giles' answering machine.

"Where are you going?" Spike tried to rewrap his arms around Buffy's waist, but she slid off the couch too quickly and unexpectedly for his weary reflexes to catch her.

"There are messages on Giles' machine," Buffy said without turning to look back at Spike.

"Don't you think the Watcher might want to keep his messages private?" Spike sighed. His girl was on a mission now, it seemed. When that happened, everyone might as well forget about stopping her. This morning's rebonding of their demons was the perfect example.

"Not if it was my mom." Buffy pushed the button to listen. "I don't know why she would call Giles. Heck, I don't know how she would have gotten his phone number in the first place."

"It's called the telephone book, pet. Crazy new invention," Spike teased.

"Shut up, Spike." Buffy stuck her tongue out at Spike.

Spike and Buffy listened with rapt attention as Jenny Calendar both said goodbye and warned Giles about Angel. By the end of the message Buffy was trembling with anger. "She knew? How does she know? She wasn't anywhere near the church last night. I know I never saw her." She hit the rewind button to replay the message over again.

"Stop!" Spike called out. "She said she was going home to Romania." He pondered the replayed message. "Well I'll be damned."

"You already are, Spike," Buffy huffed haughtily. "Share with the class. What do you know that I somehow missed?"

"Think about it, pet. Who else might care if the soulful one lost it?"

"From what I read in the diaries and other books, I'd say pretty much everyone." Buffy crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't think this is a time to play twenty questions, Spike. Spill."

Spike growled a bit perturbed, and a bit turned on, by Buffy's dominance and sassy attitude. "Who would have the most to gain by him being all broody and repentant? Who might be a bit irked that their little bit of mojo no longer worked?" He paused a moment before he let his theory hang in the air. "The bloody gypsies that cursed him in the first place."

"Oh my God. Somehow that makes sense, but I'm not sure why."

"Romania is where the bloody poof was when he was cursed with the bloody thing. She's one of the gypsies." Spike growled at the memory of Angelus' abandonment. "Her having to go back to Romania suddenly, coinciding with the Poof's soul going poof? Way too convenient if you ask me."

"That means she's been lying to us for the last 2 years. Damn it!" Buffy slammed her fist on Giles' table. A resounding crack echoed through the room. "I knew it was too far fetched for someone with her looks to be hitting on Giles. He's too brainy for her."

"Oy … watch it pet." Spike's eyes narrowed. Buffy's comment hit a little too close to home. He knew she was lashing out at someone else, but the words still stung. "There is nothing wrong with being intelligent. Intelligence doesn't mean unworthy of love."

"Hmmm, have I hit a nerve sweetie?" Buffy teased, despite her ire over the situation.

"You'll never find out what nerve if you keep that attitude up."

"That's not what I meant anyways."

"Besides, the bird sounded really worried about the Watcher. That didn't sound like the voice of someone who just used him. There was longing in that voice."

"I suppose, but I can't believe she lied to us like that."

"Who lied to us, Buffy?" Giles trudged down the stairs. The shouting and furniture cracking forced him from his slumber and into wakefulness.

"Miss. Calendar." Buffy pushed the rewind button to play the message again. "Spike thinks she is from the clan of gypsies that cursed Angel in the first place."

Giles listened to the message. His eyes grew wide in disbelief and then sadness. He felt betrayed. "Dear Lord. Why would they send someone here to watch Angel?"

"Maybe they wanted to make sure Mr. Broody Pants was still brooding and guilt filled." Spike shrugged from his position on the couch. "Maybe they just wanted to make sure that he was trying to atone for his past sins. I don't know or care. What I do know is that I'd be willing to bet good dosh that she is one of them."

Giles listened to the message yet again, but this time he let the machine cycle through to the next message.

Buffy's head snapped around to look at the machine. "Mommy! I forgot. That's what had me listening in the first place."

"Oh dear." Giles removed his glasses. He pressed the back of his hand against his forehead and the bridge of his nose. "It would seem that your mother has found out about your extra abilities and maybe your calling too."

"I swear I hadn't told her yet."

"Yet?" Giles frowned.

"I needed to tell her Giles. I was tired of her looking at me with so much disappointment." Buffy sighed. "I thought things might work out easier all around if she knew too. I was tired of hiding it from her."

"Do you realize the danger you would have put your mother in?"

"She was in more danger with me not telling her about all the things that go bump in the night," Buffy argued back. "Without knowing what was out there, she could have invited God knows who or what into the house and been killed."

"They don't just wait for an invite to your house, pet," Spike spoke up from the couch. "There have been a few times that I caught some of the little buggers stalking out her gallery when she worked late.

"WHAT?!?" Buffy yelled.

"I took care of em. Wouldn't let em hurt your Mum, pet."

"And why pray tell is that, Spike?" Giles questioned.

"She is important to Buffy. The Slayer tries to protect her." Spike looked somewhat bashful about his revelation. "Anyone that is important to her is important to me. Well, except the Poof, can't stand him, and I never will."

"You would willingly kill your own kind to protect a human?" Giles asked flabbergasted.

"It's what I just said, isn't it?" Spike pointed at Giles, but he was talking to Buffy. "Is he going a bit deaf in his old age?"

"Spike," Buffy cautioned the vampire to keep him from taking it too far.

"Look, she's mine." Spike pointed at Buffy. "And what belongs to her, belongs to me."

"That's a very primitive way of looking at it," Giles furiously cleaned the glasses he'd previously removed. "Although, if what I saw earlier this morning is any indication, both of your baser instincts and primitive natures are quite in sync with the other."

Buffy shrieked, "You were watching?" She crossed her arms over her chest as if she felt naked all of a sudden.

"I hadn't intended to, but it was hard to ignore the blinding light that you two seemed to glow with." Giles put his glasses back on. "Nor did I miss the little pointy teeth that you seemed to acquire, Buffy."

"Oh my God! There were teeth?" Buffy rubbed her face from forehead to chin. She was so caught up in the ritual earlier in the morning that she hadn't even noticed the teeth.

"Very nice pearlies too," Spike teased. "It was one of the most erotic experiences of my life. Beautiful." He found himself having to adjust his stiffening member discreetly to keep from embarrassing himself in front of the Watcher.

Buffy touched her lips with her fingertips. She tried to remember everything that happened, but a lot of it was slightly fuzzy. Her tongue flickered over her lips, reminiscent of earlier when she'd made sure to capture every drop of Spike's blood from her lips. "I did!" The move jogged her memory. "Spike, it was a lot more than a sip this time. I'm going to turn into a …"

"This time?" Giles said at the same time as Spike said, "I don't think so, luv."

Buffy rushed over to Spike and sat down next to him. "But you said before that we had to be careful."

"I know, pet." Spike ignored Giles' blustering on the other side of the room. "I'm sure the Watcher can confirm that you grew your own little pearlies last night, and mainly no ridges. Your eyes were that lovely silvery color too, not gold."

"But what does that mean?" Buffy cried softly. She cared about Spike very much, and she knew in her heart that she loved him, but becoming a vampire was her worst nightmare realized.

"Buffy …" Giles tried to get Spike and Buffy's attention. He stepped carefully towards the couch. He knew Spike couldn't walk, but he also didn't want to make any moves that could be considered threatening. "There were rumors amongst some of the supernatural scholars that the original Slayer was created by using a demon or maybe even a demon herself."

"What?" Buffy choked out the words. She would have jumped off the couch to confront Giles, but Spike held her back. He rubbed his hands up and down her back in soothing motions.

"They were rumors Buffy, nothing more." Giles cleared his throat. "No one was ever able to prove any of it. You have to understand Slayers don't live long enough to really research their origins. Each Slayer is so different that you have to start over every time."

"I think the Watcher is trying to say that it isn't necessarily a bad thing that this happened, pet. Right Rupes?"

The stricken look on Buffy's face made Giles' decision on his answer before the words even passed his lips, "Of course. It is an extraordinary event."

"Go me," Buffy said sarcastically. "Even among Slayers I get to be the freak." She buried her head in Spike's chest.

"You aren't a freak, pet. You are more of a Slayer than anyone before you." Spike tried to get her to understand. "You've touched something that no Slayer has ever been recorded to do before you. You are more of a pure Slayer than any of the other automated bints."

"You really mean that, Spike?" A teary eyed Buffy gazed up into the eyes of the man and demon she loved.

"Absolutely pet. You aren't just a Slayer. You're THE Slayer." Spike smiled. "I felt her call to my demon, pet. She knew who she wanted for that ritual, just as I knew at Halloween that I had to get the Slayer to accept my binding."

Giles itched to dig out his notebook. He held back for only a couple minutes before he couldn't hold back any longer. He raced for his desk, pulled his private (not the one he submitted to the Council) journal and started writing furiously. Much of what Spike said made sense. That alone scared Giles. Spike's prowess at deductive reasoning was not a trait Giles expected out of a vampire, even a Master Vampire.

"Mom!" Buffy shot up off the couch. "Her message … I have to get home!" Her train of thought derailed from one subject to the next in midstream now that the moment of fear had passed her.

"Why don't you bring her by, Buffy? I think it might be a good idea for us all to talk, especially since she seems to know something about your abilities." Giles worried about how Joyce Summers was going to take the news about her daughter's destiny, but what was done was done. Mrs. Summers knew something, and they needed to be sure of what.

"Thank you, Giles." Buffy left a quick kiss on Spike's cheek. "I'll try to get some blood for you on the way back too." She ran back out the door. It slammed shut behind her.

Spike shook his head back and forth. "Quite a rocket, isn't she?" He laughed. "One minute at the depths of despair and the next high as a kite. What a nutter," He spoke with fondness.

"Yes, well I suppose we should …"

"Going to give me the talk, Watcher?" Spike teased.

"Despite what I witnessed this morning, I'm not entirely convinced of your intentions, Spike." Giles held up his hand to forestall any argument. "Whether I like it or not, my Slayer is connected with your demon. My question is whether or not you are going to try to use that to your advantage to turn her against her calling."

"I haven't killed anyone other than demons since Halloween, Watcher." Spike let that tidbit sink in before he continued. "So ask yourself, just who's influencing who around here? I meant what I said about protecting what is hers. S'not just my poncy side that wants to either. My demon is quite adamant about keeping her safe and happy. Do you think I would have let that bloody organ fall on me, if I wasn't in agreement with all of myself to protect her?"

"That may be Spike, but I'm sure you can understand my reservations. This goes against …"

"Everything you've ever been taught. I've seen the brochure, Watcher." Spike rolled his eyes. "All I'm asking for is a chance. Give me one chance to show you that a demon can change his stripes or find his way back home."

"One chance Spike, but if you hurt her or double cross us I won't let your binding stop me from dusting you." Giles threat was more like that of a father caring for his daughter not a Watcher for his Slayer.

Spike nodded his agreement. "One chance is all I need."

"If that's settled, I think I should get a hold of Xander and Willow. Hopefully they can get over here before Mrs. Summers gets here."

"Afraid of the Slayer's Mum, Watcher?" Spike chuckled. "You should be. She whacked me upside the head with an axe the first time I met her."

"Dear Lord." Giles grumbled. "It's going to be a long day."

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