Title: A Father's Love
Author: Kate R.
abelard950@aol.com
Fandom: BtVS/Charmed)
Disclaimer: So not mine.
Rating: Pg-13 to R
Pairings: Giles/Ethan
Summary: What makes the Source of All Evil human?
A Father's Love
By Kate R.
"Cole, are you even listening to me?" Phoebe demanded. "What are you doing? Plotting something terrible? Cole? Cole? COLE!"
He did not answer. Instead, his eyes remained closed for a moment longer and then his head shot up. "Rupert," he whispered. "NO!"
He vanished then and Phoebe looked at Piper and Paige.
"Leo!" Piper called. Leo orbed in a moment later and looked at her.
"What is...Where is Cole? You're supposed to watching him."
"He said Rupert, yelled 'No!' and vanished. Leo, who is Rupert?" Piper demanded.
Leo paled. "Oh, no. I hope it isn't who I think it is. Teleport to Sunnydale, now!" he told them. He vanished and the Charmed Ones joined hands and teleported.
They appeared in a dark, cavernous place and watched as what had been a collapsed pile of rubble suddenly exploded outwards. They ducked for cover hearing. When the dust settled, they got to their feet. Leo appeared then.
"Duck again," he said. They looked at him confused and then they heard it: the Whoosh, the sound of rushing air that preceeded a body flying through space.
"How DARE you?!" They heard Cole roar as he came out of the whole next.
Behind him was a man, not looking too stable, and the man who'd just done the impression of a crashing plane struggled to his feet. Looking at him, the Charmed Ones and their White Lighter could see the evil he reeked of. Cole looked furious as he slammed the man over and over.
"No one touches my son!" he roared. "No one!"
"Father," the man called in a British accent.
The Charmed Ones watched as Cole/the Source, turned to the man and caught him as he stumbled.
"I have you, Rupert," Cole whispered as he brushed the man's hair off his face. "Daddy's here, baby. Daddy's here."
"Leo?" Phoebe asked looking at the man's injuries.
Leo nodded. He knew who the man was and he knew the man was needed.
"Cole," he said. "Let me."
Cole/The Source growled at him but nodded. He did not like them for how they looked down on his but it was his son. His son was hurt and he would not survive a trip to the hospital so it was Leo or nothing.
Leo breathed a sigh of relief as his magic worked. He was therefore shocked when the man shoved him away.
"Get away from me, White Lighter," he growled. "I'll take no more help from you than I have to."
"Mr. Giles," Leo began.
"Don't touch me," the man growled. "I won't have a hypocritical ass touching me unless I have no other choice. I don't care that you saved me. You've been a royal bastard to my father and I don't like it."
"He's a demon," Piper defended.
"So am I," Giles growled. "Half anyway. Dad, can you take me home? I'm tired and I need to check on the children. Thank you, for London by the way."
"Sure," Cole said. He wrapped his son in his arms and they shimmered out.
Leo and the girls looked at each other.
"What just happened?" Phoebe asked the empty air.
Part 2
"You just met the one thing Cole still loves," Leo said. "His son, Rupert Giles. Watcher to one of the Active Slayers and one of the guardians of the Hellmouth. I think whatever evil that thing was just made itself one nasty enemy. I've never seen anything worse to fight than an enraged parent. And Cole was furious."
"Cole has a son?" Phoebe demanded. "And no one's gone after him yet?"
"He's a balancer," Leo said. "He's the Lord of Order. His mate is the Lord of Chaos. You can't disrupt that balance. And Phoebe, Rupert Giles is not evil. He has demon blood, that does not automatically make him evil."
"Then why did he reject you?" Paige asked.
"Because he doesn't like us because of how we treat Cole," Leo said. "He has a bond with his father. That's how Cole knew he was in danger. That's how..."
"If you want to talk about us," Cole said Shimmering into the cavern, "Come back to Rupert's place and talk in front of us. It's hard to insult us. There's nothing you can say we haven't already heard a thousand times."
Phoebe glared but Paige and Piper both blushed and nodded as they joined hands and he directed their teleport to a house. There were several girls, a man with one eye, a vampire, a wrinkly demon type, a tainted but trying to do better witch, a vengeance demon, a boy tied to a chair...and The Key?
Piper went to touch her and her hand was swatted away by a girl with dark hair.
"Don't touch witchy girl," the dark haired girl said. "You don't touch our Dawnie. The Key is not for you all. It was given to Buffy."
"If they knew who her Watcher was they'd likely haven't done that," Phoebe said.
"Actually," Cole said. "That is exactly why they did. They knew I would protect my son and anyone he asked me to. He asked me to protect that girl. And I did. Didn't I Buffy?"
"Yep, you did," a petite blond said.
Phoebe watched the girl stand on her tiptoes and kiss Cole on the cheek. "That's for being a hero during our fight with Glory. I never did have time to give it to you after I came back."
"You're welcome?" Cole said stunned.
The boy with one eye laughed as Cole sat down on the couch as if he'd done it a hundred times.
"Hey," Phoebe snapped. "Demons don't sit without permission!"
"He has permission to come here whenever he wants," the blond girl said.
"Cole is welcome here. He has been ever since my ex-boyfriend hurt my watcher. You're the ones we aren't sure about. I actually trust him at my back."
"You trust Balthazaar at you back?" Phoebe asked. "Are you mad?"
"No," the blond said. "But I'm getting that way temperament wise. Cole is a welcome guest here. He's family as much as Giles is. He's been here through three, count 'em THREE, almost apocalypses. And he's part of the reason they stayed 'Almost' apocalypses. We've never seen you heroic witch types here getting dirty and bleeding, being injured or anything when we've needed help. He is far more welcome than you are right now."
"If he came it was for his own reasons. He never does anything without a selfish reason..."
Her hand flew to her cheek and she stared in shock as she felt the stinging slap from The Key.
"What is your deal?" the girl demanded. "Just because you can't handle the fact that he Loves, L-O-V-E-S, Loves his son is no reason to deny what's in front of you. He didn't Bitch Slap the First Evil's emissary for any reason but that it hurt his son. He didn't go toe-to-toe with Glory for any reason but that Giles asked him to protect me. Don't you dare assume you know ANYTHING about him because it's obvious you don't. So he's a demon? Ng Deal. SO is Angel, so is Spike, so is Clem and we trust them. And Buffy and us, we know Evil. And as dark as Cole is, he doesn't ping on our evil radar. Get Stuffed!"
Dawn stalked over to the couch and sat next to Cole, wrapping his arm, which was resting along the back of the couch, around her shoulders and snuggling against his chest.
"I'm scared, Cole," she said. "Spike's hurt. Will you keep me safe?"
"Forever and ever amen," Cole said kissing her temple. "Get some sleep, baby girl. I've got you."
The Charmed Ones stared as the girl they knew to be housing The Key snuggled her head under Cole's chin and went to sleep. Giles finally lost control of his already barely suppressed mirth and started laughing at them.
"Did you think it would be so easy to judge her eon the Hellmouth where you have no idea what to do or how to do it?" he asked with a dark laugh. "I am so sorry to disappoint you children but here and now? Good and Evil cannot be told by someone's blood or by who they were. It's whom they are that we judge by. And of all the things you call him, there is one thing you leave it and would leave out even if you did know: he is the Father who has always loved me. I have never been alone or out gunned when I needed help. He has always been there when I've needed him. From facing the mayor in his demon form, to dealing with the Hell-Goddess Glory to taking care of me after Angelus finished with me, Balthazaar as you call him has always been there to help me. And he ahs done it for the same reason he brought me into being: He loves me."
"How did he bring you into being?" Paige asked. "I mean, you said that right? Because he loved you he brought you into being?"
Giles sighed as he looked at them and then at his children.
"I wish the Potentials didn't have to hear this as well," he said quietly. "This is Family business. As needed as they are, they are not family."
"No problem," Piper said. She looked at the girls not seated in Giles' immediate vicinity and froze them. "Okay," she said. "Talk."
Part 3
"How he brought me into being, you want to know?" Giles asked as he leaned back in the chair. "Very well. Once upon a time, there was a Demon named Balthazaar who was very lonely. He watched the mortals he tormented and he noticed some were never lonely because they had something love. Now, he did not know what the meaning of the word love was but he thought he might like to.
"So, one day, he set out to find someone who evoked a feeling in him he'd never felt before. He met a woman named Elsabeth Giles in London after the Second World War. He saw her and something in him twisted painfully when he heard her being teased because she had a clubfoot and her husband was sterile. She would never have a child..or so she thought. Balthazaar had no idea why her being hurt affected him the way it did. All he knew was that the cruel words from the people made him want to destroy them all. Make them hurt for every tear this woman shed. He was that angry. He did not recognize the emotion under the anger was caring at the time. He had no idea what that emotions was. But, he started to watch Elsabeth and he saw her sad and her husband angry and he knew it was because he did not want a child that did not belong to him or his wife. This child he would need to carry on the Giles name had to belong by blood to either himself or his wife.
"Balthazaar watched and waited for the opportunity to make her life better. He watched her get drunk one night, trying to work up the courage to do what her husband was asking of her and find a man, any man, to give her a son. Balthazaar decided He would be that man. When she had enough to drink, he picked her up and took her back to the place he was staying in. He used his powers to make it wonderful for her and he gave her what she and her husband needed: he gave her a male child."
"But how did heā..." Paige began.
"Hush up," the tainted but trying to do better witch said. "Listen to the story."
"Thank you, Willow," Giles said before continuing.
"Now, Elsabeth was excited, and so was her husband, when it was discovered she was pregnant. This was a miracle to them. How lucky was it that she got pregnant on the first try? Balthazaar always was one for stacking the deck if he wanted something and besides, he had infinite power. Of course he could make her pregnant on the first try. But then, something terrible happened. It was found out Elsabeth had cancer, something not even Balthazaar could cure. When he found out, his heart, for that's what had twisted at the cruel words aimed at her, was wrenched terribly by pain. But, he could not let her die without giving birth. He did not know why but he knew the baby had to live. So, he did something no demon before him and none after that I know of has ever done: he sent his power out of his body, locking it in stasis until he was ready to return, and then he merged with Elsabeth and kept her body alive, strong and healthy until the time came for the baby to be born.
"Arthur Giles, Elsabeth's husband, knew something was keeping his wife's body strong, for she would tell him Balthazaar said hello when he'd ask her how her body was staying strong. When he asked who Balthazaar was, she had told him 'Why, the baby's father of course, silly.' Arthur did not know what to make of it but he was grateful that the one who had given him hope was going to see it through. Balthazaar was the one controlling the body when the baby was born. He was strong enough you see. He kept Elsabeth alive long enough to see her son but then, even he could not fight the ravages of the cancer any
further.
"Arthur held the baby in his arms and smiled as he saw Balthazaar separate from his wife. He knew Balthazaar had returned to wherever he'd come from but he knew that he would see him again. He smiled as he named the baby a name that irked his superiors: Rupert Balthazaar Giles. He cared for the baby alone for the first six years of his life but he always knew when Balthazaar himself was near. The baby got a smile on his face.
"One night, however, Arthur opened the door to a strange man standing on his front step. A man who was strange but not. A man with his son's eyes. And he knew, as surely as he knew the Council of watchers would never approve, that he was looking at the father of his son, the Demon Balthazaar. The Father of his son. Arthur however, smiled and invited the man inside. He watched as his son came out of his room where he'd been studying and practically flung himself at Balthazaar and he smiled as Balthazaar hugged the boy back tightly. Balthazaar was near for years after that. He came and he brought gifts on Christmas and birthdays, books and music. And he loved his son, he gave little Rupert all the love a parent could give a child, Demon or not. When Rupert rebelled Balthazaar was behind him every step of the way in his experiments with magic and drugs. Balthazaar watched over him and when the demon Eyhgon got loose, even thought Balthazaar could not save the idiot who summoned it, he saved everyone else. He protected Rupert's beloved, Ethan Rayne, and he warned the demon off. You see, Balthazaar was known to and feared by most demons and to threaten his son was to ask to die. And he has been there ever since."
Giles finished the story and regarded the charmed ones and their white lighter quietly for a few moments.
"That is the story," he said, "Of how Balthazaar brought me into being. Every step of the way in my life, he has been behind me, win or lose. He has loved me unconditionally, never tried to turn me to evil and protected from that self same evil. And I am finally ready, father, to accept my dual heritage. I am your son and so I need to use that heritage as well."
"At midnight tomorrow, Rupert," Cole said. "When you turn 50, I will give you your power unlocked. What you then do with it will be up to you. And Ethan is finally balanced. It's taken me twenty odd years to iron out that mess someone made of him but it's done. I'll bring him tomorrow as well. You can release the others, piper. That is all the family story you're getting out of us tonight. Goodnight everyone. I'll take Dawn to bed. If you want, Buffy, I can bend reality around here a bit and give you more room and shatter-proof doors and windows?"
"Thanks, Cole," Buffy said. "Tomorrow morning?"
"Done," Cole said standing and lifting Dawn into his arms. "Sleep well all. Nothing will harm us tonight."
"Us?" Phoebe asked.
Cole nodded. "My son asked for my help. And that thing dared to touch him. That is unforgivable. Goodnight, Phoebe, Piper, Paige, Leo. I'm for bed."
And he carried her upstairs and took her to her room. He created other rooms for everyone in the house before lying down on the floor by Dawn's bed. He always slept near her when he was here. He took his promise to keep her safe very seriously. After all, what father wouldn't do something so easy for his son?
"Sleep," he whispered to the house in general. "Rest."
And everyone did.
Part 4
"Do any of you not like Cole?" Phoebe asked the next morning. Piper and Paige were standing watching her. They wanted to know why Cole was so defended among the Hellmouth Protectors but they weren't going to be as rude as phoebe was being. Piper had told her to stop the night before but she hadn't listened. Instead, it seemed she wanted to fight with these people, especially Giles, because they accepted Cole. Piper thought there was more to Cole than met the eye here. Leo had confirmed the story Giles told last night, saying it had shocked the elders that a demon had done so much to make sure one baby lived. And then had done nothing to turn the baby to his side. As a matter of fact, Cole seemed to have been determined that his son would Not go down his path. It confused them.
"Actually," the young man with one eye said, "We all like him just fine. Like Giles said, like Buffy said, Cole has been here whenever and wherever we've needed him. We've never seen a Charmed One lift one perfectly manicured nail to help here. Cole has been here every single time we've needed him. I think he's earned our trust."
"But he's evil and a demon," Phoebe said.
"So is Spike," the young man replied. "And we trust him. Look, you obviously don't know anymore about Cole than you want to let yourself. There is more to Balthazaar than just evil."
"Like what?" phoebe asked. Paige shook her head, the same as Piper did.
Phoebe didn't want to see but it was obvious, even to them, that there was a lot to Cole they didn't know.
"Oh, I don't know," the boy said. "How about the part of him that came here after his son was tortured brutally and instead of seeking revenge like we all knew he could, stayed and took care of his son, watched over the Hellmouth, safeguarded The Key and cared for all of us? The part that made sure we were all okay after every major fight and patched us up when it was needed. How about those parts? Duh."
"He came here to protect someone?" Piper asked.
"Yes, he did," the boy said. "I got one hell of a shock too."
"Tell us about it?" Paige asked sitting down. She was aware Giles' story-telling last night had been deliberately insulting and she wanted to understand why this group was so Pro-Cole.
"Sure," Xander said. "It was about oh...a little over three years ago."
FB: 3 years ago:
Xander came to the door of Giles' apartment and knocked. He was worried about the older man, not having seen him since he'd brought him home from the hospital.
The door opened and he went in, not thinking.
"Giles?" he called. "You...WOAH!"
He was picked up by a force of power and thrown into the couch.
The couch only because he heard Giles' voice yell: "Father, no!"
"Who are you?" a dark voice had growled.
Xander had never been so afraid as he was until he realized the attack had been one of protection.
"Father," he heard Giles gasp, "this is Xander. One of the children from the school. One of the ones who worked with Buffy."
"The Liar?" the man had asked. But he moved into the light and Xander saw his face shift back to normal. "Don't you ever barge into this house like you own it again," the man growled. His voice was normal but his eyes were black and Xander found himself nodding in fear.
"My name is Cole Turner," he told the boy. "Rupert is my son. I am here to take care of him."
End FB
So, he was around for us all summer helping Giles and everything. So, you don't know shit about who he really is. Only what. As Dawn said, grow up."
END PART 4