Chapter 8
“Do you believe me now?” Elizabeth asked Buffy. “I mean, what more proof do you need?”
“It’s not a matter of believing you, Elizabeth.” Buffy shook her head. “Believe me, it’s not!”
“God, Mom!” Elizabeth yelled. “Buffy…I--I mean, Buffy.”
“That wasn’t a Freudian slip, Elizabeth.” Buffy stared back at her. “So, you’re my daughter?”
“Yes.” Elizabeth nodded. “I wasn’t supposed to tell you.”
“Why exactly are you here, Elizabeth?” Buffy asked. “And who sent you?”
“The PTB sent me.” Elizabeth sighed. “And I told, I came back to change things. Mainly your impending death.”
“My death?” Buffy clutched her hands on the countertop. “I’m going to die?”
“Supposedly.” Elizabeth nodded her response. “Which is why I’m here, Mom. You can’t give up, and you can’t let her win.”
“Her?” Buffy repeated. “Who are you talking about?”
“Cordelia Chase, Mom.” Elizabeth blurted out. “She wants Daddy all to herself and she’ll stop at nothing to get him, even if it means taking you and I out of the picture immediately.”
“So…” Buffy sighed with relief. “Angel’s your father.”
“Yeah, and a great one at that.” Elizabeth smiled. “And you two are together and happy. And that’ll continue as long as we stop Cordelia.”
“Cordelia’s many things, Elizabeth, but harmful isn’t one of them.” Buffy explained. “She didn’t even know how to dust a vampire until she was eighteen.”
“Sometimes, you and Dad are so dense.” Elizabeth grunted. “She’s going to kill you, Mom, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to allow that to happen. Don’t go see Daddy when he calls. I’ll go in your place.”
“Why?” Buffy asked.
“I just think she’ll try something.” Elizabeth shrugged. “Let me take care of her, Mom.”
“Liz, you’re a civilian.” Buffy reminded her. “I can’t risk you.”
“You won’t have to.” Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m the product child of vampire and a vampire slayer. You and Dad taught me to fight. If anything, I’m strong. I know things that you don’t, Mom. Cordelia’s one of them. Trust me when I say that you have to trust me.”
“I do trust you, Elizabeth.” Buffy assured her and patted her knee. “I don’t trust me. I’ve always broken the rules in some form or another. What if I fuck this up too?”
“I have faith in you.” Elizabeth smiled. “Dad does, too. Mom, you and Dad have the power to change things. I’m just a messenger.”
“You’re my child.” Buffy cried.
“Yeah.” Elizabeth hugged her. “Hey, I don’t want to see tears here. No crying, okay? We make it through this and you can bawl all you want. Thank god you’re only emotional for four days out of the year.”
“Four days?” Buffy shook her head. “What four days?”
“The anniversaries of Jenny’s death, your wedding, my birthday, and your birthday. You never celebrate it, Mom, but you still cry on your birthday for hours on end. Dad’s usually makes it a point to be on a case during your sobfests or something. He doesn’t ever mention anything of it, though I do know the reason why he tends to be the absentee father slash husband.”
“Why’s that?” Buffy asked.
“Cuz your birthday is like a joke. Anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. Daddy lost his soul, you lost your Slaying powers, blah blah blah.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “Don’t look at me like that, okay?”
“You have his nose.” Buffy told her.
“And your eyes.” Elizabeth nodded. “I look more like you, or so everyone says.”
“You do.” Buffy nodded. “Although you do have his stubbornness and his I-have-to-make-all-the-deciscions-without-consulting-anyone-first mentality, which I hate, by the way.”
“It’s in the jeans, sorry.” Elizabeth apologized. “So, Dad’s gonna call soon. You’ll let me see him instead of showing up?”
“I guess.” Buffy shrugged.
“Mom, please. Don’t follow me.” Elizabeth warned. “Cordelia’s going to do something both pathetic and dangerous. I don’t…Look Mom, if I don’t make it back, I need someone to make sure the future is changed. I need a second front and I need you to run it.”
“Elizabeth, you know I can’t let you go into the battlefield fighting blind.” Buffy reiterated.
“You have to.” Elizabeth argued.
Just as Buffy was about to speak again, the phone rang.
“That’s Dad.” Elizabeth told her. “You gonna answer it?”
She watched as her mother picked up and carried on a brief conversation with the vampire on the other end of the line. She hung up moments later and turned back to Elizabeth, who knocked her unconscious with one of Grandma Joyce’s vases.
“Sorry, Mom. You’ll thank me for this later.” Elizabeth told her as she stole car keys, Buffy’s keys, and tied her mother up to a barstool.
“Come on, Chase. Better make your move.” Elizabeth cursed as she walked out of the Summers’ residence. “ ‘Sides, I’m tired of waiting.”