An Unaccomplished Fate

Author: enigmaticblue

Rating: PG-15

Disclaimer: I don’t own most of these characters, and I’m not making any money off of the ones that are mine.

Summary: The sequel to Avocation and Under the Sun. Spike and Buffy’s relationship is on solid ground at last, but a new prophecy threatens everything they hold dear. The bonds of family and friendship will be tested, lives will be threatened, and the entire world will hang on the choice of one vampire.

A/N: Any resemblance to canon is pretty much accidental.

Chapter 19

“Like the ghost of a dear friend dead/Is Time long past./A tone which is now forever fled,/A hope which is now forever past,/A love so sweet it could not last,/Was Time long past./ There were sweet dreams in the night/Of Time long past:/And, was it sadness or delight,/ Each day a shadow onward cast/Which made us wish it yet might last—/That Time long past./There is regret, almost remorse,/For Time long past./’Tis like a child’s belovèd corse/ A father watches, till at last/Beauty is like remembrance, cast/From Time long past.” ~Percy Bysshe Shelley, “Time Long Past”

“I’m fine, Rupert.”

“Forgive me for being concerned.”

She sighed, hearing the patience and the humor in his voice and knowing that he was willing to cut her some slack given how bored she was. “I’m sorry, it’s just—”

“You’re tired of bed rest.”

“And it’s only day four,” Joyce confirmed. “I’m not saying that I won’t follow the doctor’s orders, but I think I just might go crazy.”

He stretched out beside her on the bed. “Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t know. Can you take my mind off being stuck here?”

“Let’s go downstairs,” Giles suggested. “I have a surprise for you.”

She followed him, moving slowly and carefully, not wanting to risk harming the baby. When she reached the main floor, Joyce stopped cold. “What is this?”

“This is for you.” Giles held out a hand. “I wanted a chance to pamper you, but Buffy and Dawn helped me set it up.”

“Where is Dawn?”

“Staying with Spike and Buffy. It’s just us tonight, and we can do whatever you like.”

Joyce looked around at the candles that were lit and placed around the living room, the fire that was crackling in the fireplace, and the tray that was set out in front of it. From where she stood, she could see the sparkling grape juice chilling in the bucket, sliced fruits, cheese, meats, and bread.

“This is perfect.” Joyce blinked back tears. “I can’t believe it.”

“Come and sit.”

He tugged her over to the fireplace and helped her sit. “What’s doing on, Rupert?” Joyce asked.

“Nothing is going on,” he protested.

Joyce wasn’t buying it for a moment. “You wouldn’t have done this if you didn’t have something planned.”

He looked away. “Am I that transparent?”

“Only to me.” She patted his cheek. “We’ve known each other for long enough, and well enough, that it can’t be completely surprising.”

“How long have we known each other?” he asked.

Joyce frowned. “Quite some time. Since Buffy’s sophomore year in high school, I suppose, so nearly four years.”

“And how long have we been together?”

“Two years.” Joyce began to suspect where this was going. “Are you trying to ask me to marry you?”

Giles cleared his throat. “I know that we haven’t talked about marriage, but…” He trailed off, and she could see how nervous he was.

“You want to get married?”

“I—I do.” He didn’t sound terribly sure. “I think it would make things easier for both of us.”

Joyce knew where this was going, but it wasn’t the most romantic proposal she’d ever heard; then again, Hank’s proposal had been by the book, and look how that had ended. She still couldn’t resist teasing him a bit.

“So, you only want to get married because it would make things easier?”

“No! Of course not. I just—” Giles pulled his glasses off. “If you hadn’t told the doctor to allow me in the room the other day, I don’t know that I would have been able to come in.”

“But I did tell him.”

“And what if something were to happen to one of us? God forbid, but…”

“But it could, and if we were married, things would be easier legally speaking.”

He nodded. “Yes.”

“Is that the only reason?”

“I love you.” He didn’t say the words very often, which made every occasion that he did all the more precious. “I can’t imagine spending my life without you.”

She smiled. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

His eyes narrowed. “Now you’re teasing.”

“I couldn’t resist.”

“I never thought of getting married, and yet, here we are.” Giles fumbled in his pocket and fished out a ring. “It was my grandmother’s. She was a strong woman; you remind me of her.”

Joyce blinked back tears as she slid the ring on her finger. “Thank you.”

“Is that a yes?”

“It was always going to be yes, Rupert.”

~~~~~

Quinn hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Tara, although she’d been doing her best to give the other woman a wide berth.

The problem was that she liked Tara too much, and while they might not be on opposite sides any longer, they weren’t exactly playing for the same team. Quinn had enough on her plate right now without adding a relationship—even if it was only a potential relationship.

At least Travers had stopped pestering her for more information. Wesley’s translation had satisfied him, at least for the moment.

Quinn browsed the shelves at the magic shop idly. She had stopped in for some basic ingredients, well aware that there were certain things that a Watcher should have to hand at all times.

She wasn’t paying much attention to the others in the shop until she heard, “You’re in luck. The Sobekian bloodstone is on sale this week.”

Turning slightly, Quinn saw a woman about her age standing at the checkout counter. “Great!” she said brightly. “I love a good sale.”

The sixth sense that had contributed to her success at the Academy was going haywire, although she couldn’t put her finger on why. Grabbing one of the items that she needed, Quinn headed for the register, hoping to get a better look at the woman and what she was buying.

Quinn approached the woman from behind just as she saw the sales clerk wrap an amulet before putting it in a bag. She knew that the Sobekian bloodstone was bad news; it was only used in the darkest magicks, although you couldn’t do much harm without certain other items.

In general, unless the person wielding the spell was incredibly powerful, or had something else that was key to the spell, the bloodstone was more of a nuisance than a real threat.

The clerk finished ringing up the sale, the woman took her bag and swept by Quinn without so much as glancing in her direction. That glance was enough to jog her memory, and she realized that she’d just watched Glory purchasing something that she likely shouldn’t have.

“I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Quinn nodded and placed her purchases on the counter, trying to catch a glimpse of the sales receipt the other woman was filling out. “So, uh, have you worked here long?” she asked.

The other woman glanced up from the form, and Quinn caught a glimpse of the other item purchased on the inventory log: Khul’s amulet.

“No, not long. I just fill in for the owner on occasion. Why?”

Quinn shrugged. “No reason. I just didn’t think I’d seen you in here before.”

The woman’s smile grew a bit. “Great accent. Are you from the London area?”

“Plymouth, actually. It’s south and west of London. Do you know it?”

“I spent a semester at Oxford,” she explained. “I never did get the hang of recognizing accents.”

Quinn continued to make small talk about England, shading the truth when she needed to and leaving the store as soon as she could. While she still had no idea why the combination of those two items bothered her so much, Quinn knew that she’d be doing some research.

The only problem was that she didn’t have access to the research materials she needed—which meant that there was only one place to go.

~~~~~

Tara opened the door of the dorm room and was surprised to see Quinn on the other side. “Hi.”

“Sorry to bother you,” Quinn said in a rush. “But I think there may be a problem.”

“What kind of problem?” Tara stepped aside in a silent invitation.

The young Watcher shoved her hands in her pockets. “I was just in the magic shop, and I saw Glory buying a Sobekian bloodstone and Khul’s amulet. I know it’s not good, but I can’t remember why. Besides, you know, it being Glory.”

“Have a seat.” Tara waved her to the bed, pausing to remember which books would offer the answers they were looking for. “Try this one for the bloodstone.”

She took a second tome and began looking for references to the amulet. The room fell silent, other than the quiet rustle of pages. “How have you been?” Tara finally asked.

Quinn kept her eyes on the book resting on her lap. “Fine, and you?”

“Good.”

Tara wasn’t exactly sure what was going on between them, but she suspected that Quinn’s feelings mirrored her own. Now was not a good time to start a relationship.

When is a good time? The small voice in the back of her head made sense, as it usually did.

“Here.” Quinn’s voice held a note of relief, as though she was grateful to keep the conversation to business only. “The Sobekites were an ancient Egyptian cult that worshipped a snake-like demon.”

Tara finally found the entry she had been looking for. “And the amulet is a transmogrification conduit.”

Quinn was already shaking her head. “Maybe this is stupid. You’d have to have a lot of power to be able to pull off a spell that big, and Glory is physically strong, but—”

“Might have enough power to do just that,” Tara said grimly. “Hold on.”

She picked up the phone and dialed Wesley’s number. When it rang through to voicemail, Tara said, “Wesley, it’s Tara. I think we may have a situation with Glory. I’m calling Spike next, so check with him before going anywhere.”

Ignoring Quinn’s questioning look, Tara dialed the next number. “Come on,” she muttered, knowing that she and Quinn had no hope of dealing with whatever Glory was conjuring up, and yet knowing that they would have to try.

“Yeah.”

Tara had never been so relieved to hear Spike’s curt reply. “We have a situation with Glory, Spike. Where are you?”

“Out on patrol.”

Tara suspected that a little more had been going on than just patrolling, but she didn’t say anything. She wanted to ask where Dawn was, but if what she suspected was true, Quinn couldn’t know that Dawn was anything more than another innocent who might be caught in the crossfire.

“Glory is going to try some very dark magic, probably to conjure a demon to kill you,” Tara said cryptically. “And to do it, she’s going to need a snake.”

“What kind of a snake?”

“The nastier, the better.”

“Are you alone?”

“No. Willow’s with Wes.” She didn’t know if he’d work out who she happened to be with, but even if he didn’t, he’d know she wasn’t with one of those in the know.

“Got it. Dawn’s with Xander and Anya. I need you to head over there. Bring the company if it’s Quinn. All she has to know is that Buffy’s worried about Glory attacking her sister.”

“That makes sense.” And it did, particularly since Quinn had a sister of her own; she would understand Buffy sending reinforcements to protect her. “We’re on our way.”

She hung up, hoping that they would be enough. “Do you mind?”

“Where are we going?” Quinn was already on her feet, looking just a little bit excited, and Tara realized that she would have made a really good Slayer. Like Buffy and Spike, she lived for a good fight.

“Xander’s apartment. Buffy’s sister is staying with them tonight, and she’s worried Glory will go there.”

“Wait, a sister?” Quinn frowned. “I don’t remember hearing anything about a sister.

Tara took a deep breath, hating that she had to lie, and reminding herself that this was just one more reason her attraction to the other woman would have to go unspoken. She wouldn’t lie to someone she was with. “It’s a long story,” she replied. “I’ll explain on the way over.”

~~~~~

Buffy hadn’t been able to stop worrying all the way to the Sunnydale Zoo. She hadn’t been there since the debacle with the hyenas her sophomore year of high school, and really, she hadn’t planned on going back.

“We’ll get there.”

“Not fast enough,” she grumbled. “Did Tara say what to look for?”

“She said that Glory needed a snake. I thought it was obvious.”

“Right, but if we can’t disrupt the spell, I mean. How do we stop her? Or it?”

“We kill it, luv.” Spike’s expression was just short of exasperated. “Buffy, we’ve been over this.”

“I know.”

“Your mum is going to be fine.”

As always, Spike saw to the heart of the matter. The truth was that Buffy was worried about everyone and everything—her mom, the baby, Dawn, Glory, the Council, the prophecy…

Her dream.

“It’s just that we don’t even know how to kill her. I’d feel a lot better if we knew that we could chop off her head, or poison her drink, or something.”

“I don’t know of many things that can survive with their heads off,” Spike said mildly, “so that seems like a good place to start.”

There was a pause as they continued half-walking, half-jogging towards the zoo. Spike’s car had been too far away to do any good. It had been faster to head straight to there, rather than picking up his car and driving there.

“Wes told me something the other day. He said he thought Glory was tied to a human body somehow.”

“That makes no sense,” Buffy said flatly.

Spike inclined his head in a way equivalent to a shrug. “Didn’t say it did, but he thought we could kill the human.”

Buffy pondered that idea for a moment, and realized that she didn’t much care for it. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

“None of this does.” She could just make out his blue eyes in the light from an overhead streetlamp. “Just ask Dawn.”

“Don’t I know it.” They were approaching the zoo at a fast clip now, and Buffy racked her brain, trying to remember where the snakes were.

She didn’t like snakes—never had, especially not after the last snake-like demon she’d killed.

“Do you know where they are?” Spike asked, as though reading her mind.

Buffy shook her head. “I don’t remember.”

He grimaced. “Right. I’d suggest splitting up, but I don’t think that’s a good idea under the circumstances.”

“You’re right.” They would just have to hope they found Glory in time.

~~~~~

Xander was letting Anya win. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself, given how badly he was losing at Monopoly. Granted, he’d essentially promised Anya that if she won, he’d buy her something sparkly, since she’d agreed to babysit Dawn again.

He suspected that Buffy and Spike were using their time together to do a little more than just patrol, but he didn’t blame them.

The knocking on the door had the sound of trouble behind it, and Xander warned Anya and Dawn to stay put. “Coming!” he called, as the knocking continued, even louder this time.

A quick glance through the peephole reassured him that it was just Tara and the Watcher-girl. “What’s wrong?”

“Spike asked us to come over. He thought that Glory might be sending trouble your way.” Tara’s surreptitious glance at Dawn, then Quinn, warned him that he shouldn’t push for more information, at least not now.

“Okay.” Xander thought quickly. “You guys want something to drink?”

“Sure.” Quinn gave him a hopeful smile. “A glass of water wouldn’t go amiss, and if you’ve got weapons, I’d like to see them.”

Xander could offer water, but he wasn’t sure that he’d have what she needed for weapons.

He just hoped they wouldn’t need them.