FIC: These Roads We Travel (19/?)

[Kimber <kacoe@xxxxxxx>]

TITLE: These Roads We Travel (19/?)
AUTHOR: Kimber (kacoe@xxxxxxx)
DISCLAIMER: All BTVS characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant
Enemy. SUMMARY: The long awaited next story in "The Road Series".
SPOILERS: Everything is fair game.
DISTRIBUTION: The usual suspects. Anyone else, e-mail me please.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: This comes because I've had so many great responses to
the series and many people begging for another. Be careful what you wish
for.
Thanks to Bill for being beta guy this time around. J

{{Indicates flashbacks}}
-----------

Lisa was on her knees in her attic. There were papers strewn everywhere
from one end of the room to the other. She?d been there for about an
hour and a half and came up with nothing. She heard her father put his
keys on the table and she launched down the stairs to see him. ?Dad!!?

?Whoa there, Princess. Where?s the fire?? He smiled at her.

?Where?s my birth certificate??

He shrugged and began to walk towards the kitchen. ?I?m not really
sure. Why??

?I need it.?

?Mind telling me what for??

?School project. I need to know what my mother?s name is.?

Jason turned around and looked at his daughter. ?Now why don?t I
believe that??

?Dad. . .?

?What?s going on, Lisa??

?What?s my mother?s name?? She crossed her arms in front of her and put
on her best resolve face.

?You?ve gone seventeen years without knowing. Why is it so important
now??

Lisa looked at her father disbelievingly. ?You?re not going to tell me.
. .are you??

Jason thought for a moment. ?No. No I?m not. It?s not important.?

?Dad. . .?

?No. Can we not? We?ve been through this before. I raised you, I took
care of you and your mother left you. The only thing she ever did for
you was send money.?

Lisa stormed out of the house.

?Lisa wait!?

She turned around and looked at him for a moment. ?I?m going to see
Laurel. She got hurt last night and she?s in the hospital.? She paused
a moment. ?If you care at all that is.?

-------

?Hey there kiddo.? Faith sat on the edge of Laurel?s bed and smiled.
?You gave us a big scare. . .you know that??

?Sorry.?

?Well, your safe now so.? She shrugged. ?Where?s Lisa??

?She was gone when I woke up.?

?She really cares about you. You know? She was wicked scared something
bad happened to you.?

?I know.? Laurel pulled at her blankets. ?Faith, can I ask you a
question??

?Sure. Shoot.?

?Well, say you like this person a lot and you hang out without anyone
knowing cause some people just wouldn?t understand the relationship you
have and you?ve kissed a few times, but that?s all. So the relationship
changes and you?re friends now, which is cool, but then this other great
person comes into your life and totally changes it for the good. Should
you tell the second person about the first??

Faith shook her head a few times. ?You do have your mother?s gift of
babble. Do they know each other??

?No.?

?Did they overlap??

?You mean was I with them both at one time?? Faith nodded. ?Then
yeah. But that doesn?t mean anything. . .right??

Faith took her hand. ?Well, the new person might feel like you were
just using them if it wasn?t working out with the first.?

?But it was never gonna work out with him, he?s a . . .? Laurel looked
up. ?Never mind.?

?He? He?s a what?? Faith looked at her curiously.

?Nothing.?

?Laurel. . .if you?re anything like either of your mothers, there?s
something supernatural involved.? Laurel?s eyes widened and Faith shook
her head. ?God. What is it with you three? So what is he? Demon?
Werewolf? Robot??

?Robot??

?Never mind about that. Red was young and. . .oh no.? Faith looked at
her in shock. ?You wouldn?t.? She stood up. ?He?s a vampire, isn?t
he??

Laurel?s head dropped. ?Well. . .?

?Nothing but trouble there, kiddo. Soulless bastards every one of
them. I can?t believe you got involved with a vampire!?

?Faith. Don?t ?mom? me. Please. This is why I tell you these things
and not momma. She?s been ?momming? me double time this past year and
you two may be involved but that doesn?t mean you and I have to change.
Does it??

Faith immediately realized something as soon as Laurel said that. No
one told her about Willow. No one told her the spell worked and her
mother was two floors away from her in ICU. ?I gotta go, Lau.?

?Why? Did I say something wrong??

?No. I just. . .I have to go get Buffy. I?m sure she wants to see you.
We?ll be right back. Okay??

?You won?t tell her. . .will you??

Faith shook her head. ?No. It?s between you and me. Promise. I?ll be
back.?

------

Buffy woke and blinked a few times. She looked up and saw Willow there
and almost started to cry all over again. ?It wasn?t a dream.? She
whispered.

?No it wasn?t.?

She turned around and Giles was on the other side of the tent. She
unzipped it carefully and stepped out to stretch. ?Giles. How long
have you been here??

?Since about the second time the nurse came in to wake you up. I
decided to stick around and make sure you weren?t disturbed.? He
smiled. ?How is she.?

?The same but,? Buffy looked back at the bed. ?She?s here.?

?Yes she is.? He nodded.

?B. We gotta talk.? Faith stood in the doorway.

?What?s wrong? Did something happen to Laurel?? Buffy walked over to
her.

?No, nothing like that. It?s just, well. . .in all the excitement, have
you told her about Red being here??

Buffy gasped. ?Oh God, no. I haven?t even seen Laurel yet.? She
turned to Giles. ?What am I gonna do??

Giles rose from the chair and walked to them. He placed his hand on her
shoulder and smiled. ?You?re going to go tell your daughter that her
mother is alive.?

-------

He stood in the hallway and immediately spotted who he was looking for.
Rupert Giles, the watcher that legends were made of. While he was a
delinquent in his youth, he was rumored to be the bravest of all the
watchers in the council. He fought next to his Slayer in almost every
battle. . .not cowering behind a tree letting her fend for herself.

He took a deep breath and walked up to him. ?Mr. Giles.?

Giles looked up and nodded. ?Yes.?

He put his hand out. ?I?m Jason, Lisa?s father.?

?Yes. Oh, well, it?s quite nice to finally meet you. Lisa speaks very
highly of you.? Giles took his hand. ?Are you looking for her??

?No, I know she went to visit Laurel. I was actually looking for you.
I think it?s time you know a few things. I?m tired of the lies.?

?Well, um, why don?t we go to the cafeteria then. For coffee.?

Jason nodded and followed him down the hall.

----------

?I need your help. Badly.? Lisa walked into Laurel?s room lugging her
laptop with her.

?Um, yeah. Nice to see you too, Li. I?m fine. Still a little sore.?
Laurel smirked.

Lisa put the laptop down and sat on the bed. ?I?m sorry. I just. . .I
found something out a few hours ago. Something about my mother, and
it?s really got me freaked, I mean, if it means what I think it means
then it?ll be okay. . .I think, but if it doesn?t mean what I think it
means or what I want it to mean then. . .?

?Li, slow down.? Laurel chuckled. ?You?re going at warp speed here.?

?I need to see my birth certificate. I have to know my mothers name and
my dad won?t tell me. Can you get to it? On the net I mean??

Laurel grabbed the laptop off the chair and booted it up. ?Birth
certificate? Piece of cake.? She smiled.

Lisa sighed in relief. ?Good. If this is what I think it is. . .?

?This is big. Isn?t it??

?Yeah. Like life changing big.?

Laurel connected the phone line and typed a few commands onto the
keyboard. In a flash she was on the net. ?Just give me a few minutes.?

The minutes ticked by like hours for Lisa. Each second was torture.
?Anything??

Laurel shook her head. ?It?s odd. You?re here, but,? She furrowed her
brow. ?Your mom?s name isn?t on here.?

?What?? Lisa scooted over next to Laurel. ?Lemme see.? She checked
the screen. ?I can?t believe it. The records are sealed!?

?The only way they?d be sealed is if you were adopted or,? Laurel shook
her head. ?No, that can?t be it.?

?What??

?Well, if you were adopted, which we know you weren?t or, if your name
was changed. If that?s the case, then the records can?t be opened until
you?re eighteen.?

-------

?She was all fire and brimstone when I arrived. There was a huge chip
on her shoulder, though from what I understand, not as big as in her
youth.? He smiled. ?We clashed immediately and fought constantly but
that wasn?t going to stop me. The council wanted to make amends for
what they?d done to her and I was there to do a job. Well, in the
beginning it was a job.?

?It was about a year after I?d arrived. She really opened up about you,
Buffy, the ?scooby gang? as she called them. There was so much hurt
inside of her. . .all I wanted to do was take it away. That?s when I
realized I?d fallen in love with her. I fell in love with everything
about her, even the badness, because if that wasn?t there, then it
wouldn?t be her. We?re all made up of good and not so good things, you
have to learn how to accept it as a whole, and that?s exactly what I
did. Accepted her for who she was. I?d refused her advances before
because of our working relationship but. . .I?m only human I suppose. .
.and she?s got such a fire within her.?

Giles nodded. ?Yes, yes she does.?

?There was such passion there. I gave in and nothing was the same after
that. She moved in shortly after we got involved, the council found out
and fired me. It didn?t bother me that much, you know how it is working
for the Watchers Council and I was probably better off without them.?
He took a sip of his coffee and shook his head sadly. ?I really thought
it would work out. You know? I thought I?d finally reached her and
that she?d worked through all the issues from her childhood and her time
in prison. I wanted a life with her but. . .she didn?t want one with
me.?

?I was careless. . .she was careless and we got pregnant. It was hard
at first but we finally agreed that we?d keep the baby. Abortion was
never an option. Hope was born, my family was ecstatic. . .but
something was missing for her. Something I don?t even think she could
describe or put her finger on. I think everything came rushing at her
at once from her past and how she was raised. She was afraid that she?d
turn out to be just like her own mother. The night we had Hope
christened, she left. No warning, no clue, no nothing. She packed up
and walked out of our lives and I haven?t seen her since. My daughter
is seventeen now and every month like clockwork, I get a check in the
mail from her.?

?I moved to England of all places when she was four months old. The
council gave me my job back, and I changed her name to Lisa when she was
six months old. I suppose I needed to make her just mine. . .not mine
and Faith?s but, there are some things you can?t change. I can?t change
the fact that she?s her mother and she gave birth to her. That will be
there for the rest of our lives. Lisa is starting to ask questions now
and I can?t put her off any longer. If I don?t tell her, she?s bound to
find out and I don?t want it to happen like that. If it?s going to
happen, if Faith is going to see her daughter again, I wanted to have
some control over it.?

Giles thought for a few moments about everything Jason told him. He?d
known through the council files that Faith had a child, but the details
were vague and now he knew why. She?d had a child with one of the
council?s psychologists. ?You want Lisa to know Faith is her mother??

?No, but. . .there?s no avoiding it now. Lisa has been with Laurel for
months now and sees Faith practically every day.? He shrugged. ?Maybe
it?s for selfish reasons I didn?t want her to know. I?ve had Lisa to
myself for seventeen years. . .I don?t want to lose her to Faith. . the
way I lost myself.?

?You really love her. Don?t you??

?Yes. I?m married now. Jenna is wonderful and loves Lisa as if she
were her own. And I love Jenna with all my heart and soul. . .but Faith
gave me my daughter and because of that she?ll always have a piece of
me.?

?I understand. I had no idea, really. I know Lisa?s been looking for
her mother, but the last person I thought it would be is Faith.?

?J.?

Jason looked up and saw Faith standing right behind Giles. He stood
up. ?Faith. It?s been a long time.?

?What the hell are you doing here??

Giles stood up and turned to her. ?Faith. . .?

?No, Giles. You don?t understand. . .? Her voice cracked. ?He?s. .
.he?s. . .?

Giles put his hand on her shoulder. ?I know, Faith. I know.?

She looked at him with tears in her eyes then looked back at Jason. She
grabbed onto Giles? arm for support. ?I want to see my daughter.? She
wiped at the tears. ?I want to see Hope.?

--------

?Am I interrupting??

Laurel looked up and smiled. ?Mamma!? She put her arms out and Buffy
walked up to her and hugged her.

?God, you feel good.? Buffy stroked her hair. ?I thought I?d lost you,
Lau.?

?I?m sorry, mamma, I?m so sorry.?

?It?s okay.? Buffy pulled away and looked at her. She tucked some hair
behind Laurel?s ear and smiled. ?God, you look just like Willow.?

Laurel smiled. ?I love it when you say that. It makes me feel like
she?s still here.?

Buffy looked over at Lisa and smiled. ?How are you holding up, kiddo??

?I?m okay.? She shrugged.

?Good.? Buffy turned back to Laurel. ?Lau, I have something to tell
you and there?s no easy way to do it.?

?Oh no. What?s wrong? Did something happen to Faith? Or Papa? Did
Papa get hurt again?? She got a panicked look on her face.

?No, no. Nothing like that. They?re both fine.? Buffy took a deep
breath and took her daughter?s hands in her own. ?Lau, it?s about
Will---?

?Daddy?? Lisa looked to the door where her father was standing with
Faith and Giles behind him. She stood up. ?What are you doing here??

Faith gasped and reached over for Giles. ?Oh my God.? She whispered.


. . . . . . TBC. . . . .

--
~~Kimber

"Lisa's Personal-Pit Pet" *eg*
a.k.a. The Light Lobster
Tourist number 2
List Gutter Lust Goddess (yeah, I've finally given into my fate)
Proud Member of the BtVS Writer's Guild - ~~Because Fic makes anything
possible.