The sound of her child making accompanying noises to his actions as he flew around the garden caught the woman's attention as she stood in the kitchen. Her lips lifted gently at her son's carefree actions, her joy tempered by the constant knowledge that his innocence would one day be shattered. As her husband had been shattered by their terrible calling.
She felt a presence behind her, his approach silence as usual. She turned her head in acknowledgement as he stopped beside her, his eyes on the child outside. She felt again the family grief at the old man, his body bowed under the weight of what he knew, and what he'd had to do. He'd been so different when they'd met. Strong and full of life, ready to change the world. In such a short time he'd aged twenty years, appearing to be a man of sixty, instead of just forty five.
She sighed as he rested his trembling hand against the sink, allowing the steel bowl take his weight. She knew his thoughts, what he planned. She'd hoped he'd find a way they could remain hidden in their snug cottage away from the
darkness of the world they'd left behind. The telephone call last night had changed all that. "Does it have to be now?"
"It should have been sooner. They weren't happy." His voice trembled slightly, but he'd lost the ability to show any intense emotions a few years ago. Not even for his family would he be able to be more than the shell that now existed. He nodded out of the window. "When did this happen?"
"After our visit to Biggin Hill. The Red Arrows impressed him."
"Huh," he grunted as he moved away from the window. "Why the British Air Force decided to develop an acrobatic team I'll never know. Such a waste."
"The children enjoyed it, anyway."
He paused at the doorframe. "Send him in to me when he's done."
"Roderick." She could not hide the desperation in her voice. She would try anything to save her son.
His back stiffened. "I'm sorry, Marie. If there was any way to prevent him from
being destroyed as I was, I would have found it by now. I'm sorry." He shuffled slowly out of the room.
Noticing the height of the sun, and realising it would soon be dinner time, he trotted into the kitchen. Making his way to the jug sitting on the kitchen table, he poured himself a drink of his mother's homemade lemonade. "Did you see me Mum? I finally worked out the barrel roll. Almost hit one of the other planes, though. I'll have to work out the timing." He paused to take a sip, shifting the subject slightly. "I'm expecting a letter from the Air Force about qualifications for joining up."
His back to his mother, he didn't notice her grin at the thought of the Air Force receiving an application to join from a ten year old boy. "What happened to your plans to become a Grocer?"
The lad shrugged his shoulders. "That's my fallback." He turned, his eyes alight. "Did I tell you Mr. Patel now has twenty different types of sweets? I asked him
how he makes sure not to eat them all. He said a grocer must develop great willpower before joining the society."
Marie watched the small hand automatically making its way toward the bowl of fruit in the centre of the table. "And how is your willpower going?"
He looked guiltily toward the offending appendage before jerking it sharply back. "I'm okay when I remember. But I'll do it. You know I always manage what I put my mind to."
Marie shook her head. Her son was a genius, all his teachers knew it. And it made them afraid of him. She felt almost sorry for his tutors when he attended Oxford. The reminder of his future sobered her. She'd dreaded this day for so long. "You know, it isn't always possible to plan our own futures."
He looked up at that, an intelligence beyond his years in his eyes. "I'm not becoming a teacher like Dad. I want something more exciting than grading papers."
She sighed as she stepped toward him. Ruffling his hair, she gazed into his innocent eyes. She knew he didn't like the action, but this was her last moment with her baby. "Everything isn't always as it seems, Rupert. Now, you need to go see your father. He's waiting for you."
He looked at her in confusion. Roderick Giles never requested his son's presence. They always did things as a family, or Roderick invited himself into Rupert's world. Rupert was not expected to enter his father's domain. Wiping his hands on his trousers, he turned and made his way to his father's study.
He lifted his head. "Did you know? About it all? About Lily?"
She nodded, then realised he wouldn't see the action. "Yes, dear. I'm sorry. We tried to protect you from it, but in the end we failed."
"That's what happened to Dad, wasn't it? It wasn't the war. It was them. Those girls!"
"No, Rupert. Not the girls, but what we make them do. That's what broke your father. After he lost Lily."
"It's wrong. Us running after them, destroying our lives for them. Just so they can go kill a few vampires."
"Rupert Giles!" She'd never raised her voice to him in quite that way before. She wanted to take it back, but she realised she had to make him understand. "The girls are victims in the same way you are. They don't choose their destinies. They are the Chosen One. One at a time, Rupert. They don't have a life. They are taken from their families very young, and trained to do just one thing. To fight and protect the world until they fail. And another one is called."
"And after they're gone, what then? What happens to their Watchers? Do they all end up like Dad?"
"No. Only those who care about their slayers are truly affected by their charge's death. The others either work within the Council, or wait for their next slayer. It's only if you truly come to love your slayer that her death takes that part of you away with her."
"And leaves their family with nothing. I'm not going to be like that. Nobody is going to make me become a Watcher, and care for my slayer. There won't be a Lily for me!"
"Oh, Rupert." How could she respond to such rage? There was nothing she could do but wait, and hope. And be there for him. "What did your father say?"
"They'll be here for me tomorrow. I have to go pack." He stood, then turned toward his mother. Moving forward, he avoided her open arms as he made his way into the house.
The tears ran down Marie Giles' cheeks as she closed the door to the outside world. Once again they were being drawn back into that other world, where only death and pain were the reality. It had already destroyed her husband and mother-in-law, and now it would take her only child from her. Such a normal looking day really, for the end of her family.