Title: Gift of a Future
Author: Gileswench

(notes & disclaimer with part one)

As predicted, the Enterprise crew was eager to help search for the missing Buffybot. Worf and Geordie were left behind at the Summers house in case the bot went there, and because they were the two crewmembers most likely to stand out as unusual in Sunnydale. Captain Picard and Dr. Crusher went to check the warehouse district, Riker and Troi were assigned the park and the business district by the Magic Box, and Data divided the cemeteries with Buffy and Giles.

As they all went off on their assignments, Buffy gave Giles a bemused smile.

"What is it, Buffy?" Giles asked.

"Nothing. It's just kind of funny."

The pair walked in silence for a few paces.

"What's funny?" Giles asked at last.

"Oh, nothing. I'm just wondering how much searching will really get done the way the troops are divided, that's all."

"And as is so often the case, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh come on, Giles!" Buffy exclaimed in disgust. "We sent two hyper- couply couples off to couply places on their own. I just think the smooch factor may end up getting in the way of actual searching."

"What makes you think they're 'couply', as you put it?"

"Please! Deanna already as good as told me she wanted Riker back, and it's so obvious that the captain and the doctor want to play doctor together. They just need to get past that whole office romance thing."

"Buffy, please try to concentrate on the task at hand," Giles chided.

Buffy shrugged.

"You asked, Giles. I just answered."

The pair searched Restfield Cemetary in silence for a few moments. Giles was less than surprised when Buffy broke said silence.

"It's not like these guys have had the sort of bad luck with co-worker cuddles as I have. I mean, Deanna and Will are still friends, and Beverly used to be married to a Starfleet guy...until he died. But until then, it was great. At least that's what Deanna told me. Neither one of them had someone turn evil because they...or got deserted for vamp ho's."

"Your point being...?"

"That it's okay for them. I wonder why it's not for me."

"Ah," Giles said. "Buffy, you're a...a fine girl. I have no doubt that eventually you'll find someone to love, who will love you in return."

Buffy moved a bit faster. Giles took her by the arm to halt her progress.

"What is it now?"

"Giles, I'm the Slayer. Chances are I don't have an eventually. What if Mr. Right doesn't find me in time? What if I don't recognize him when he gets here? What if he's in Istanbul or something? It's not like I'm going anywhere."

"Buffy," Giles said softly, "if it's meant to be, it will be. I feel very sure there's someone out there for you."

"How old are you?" she asked him suddenly.

"Wh - I beg your pardon?"

"It's a simple question, Giles. How old are you?"

"Forty-seven, if you must know."

"Really? That old?" She looked oddly at him. "I would have said maybe forty-two, forty-three at the outside. Anyway, so, forty-seven. You're forty-seven years old."

"A fact of which I'm already painfully aware," he agreed. "What does it matter?"

Buffy stopped and sat on a gravemarker with a serious expression.

"It doesn't, really, except..."

"Except?"

She shrugged and cocked her head at him.

"Where's Miss Right, Giles? If I deserve someone, you deserve someone, too. Way more than I do, in fact. So where is she?"

Giles shoved his hands in his pockets and studied the ground.

"Alright, I don't know," he said grumpily. "But even if there isn't anyone for me, that doesn't mean you'll end up alone. The spirit guide told you that you're full of love. Where is the point in that if you've no one to share it with?"

"She also said death was my gift. Does that mean I'm supposed to be glad my mom died? Or just that I'm really talented at it. I mean, I kill a lot of vamps and demons, so I must be good at it. I'd just like...to know I'm good at something else."

"Don't be ridiculous, Buffy."

"Who's being ridiculous? I suck at everything but poking wood into the undead. I dropped out of college, I can't keep a boyfriend, I can't keep Dawn from cutting class. Hell, my best friends couldn't tell me apart from a robot! Face it, Giles, I'm the ugly wart on the big toe of the world."

Giles sat next to her and spoke quietly, but with intensity.

"Listen to me, Buffy. You are not a wart of any kind. Yes, you dropped out of school, but it was in order to care for your sister, not because you were incapable of doing the work. You'll go back when time and money permit. As for Dawn, she's very troubled right now. Taking care of her is a far bigger responsibility than should ever have been forced on you. But you have me and Willow and Xander and Tara, even Anya. We'll help you as best we can. As for boyfriends...Buffy, you're only twenty. It would be far more surprising if you'd already settled down with one man for all time. At your age, you're supposed to make a few romantic mistakes.And if your friends can't tell you from a robot...I think that's as much a wake up call for them as it is for you."

Buffy sighed and leaned against Giles' shoulder.

"What would I do without you?" she asked.

"I've not the slightest idea," he returned dryly.

"You are such a pain," Buffy giggled.

With that, she stood and gestured to Giles to follow her.

"Come on, Watcher mine. We have a bot to find."

Giles smiled slightly as he rose and fell into step beside her.

"Tell me again why we're here, Jean-Luc," Dr. Crusher said.

"To look for a robot Buffy, Beverly."

"I know that, but why here? Why would it come to a bunch of empty warehouses?"

"It's entirely possible that it didn't come here. Still, if it's trying to hide, this would seem a likely sort of place. It was programmed by a vampire, and apparently vampires like empty warehouses."

The pair searched in silence for a while, but found no sign of the Buffybot. They moved to another building.

"Well," Captain Picard mused as he took in the charred remains of the building, "I don't believe this was a warehouse to begin with. In fact, if I'm not mistaken, it looks like a factory of some sort. I wonder what was made here."

"A mess," Beverly answered. She poked around some of the debris on the floor. "We'd better move on. I don't think anything is hiding here."

"No, wait," Picard said. "What's that over there?"

He pointed at a wooden object in the middle of the floor. He and Beverly both moved to inspect it.

"If I'm not mistaken, it's an ancient basball bat," Beverly said.

"Baseball bat?"

"A game that used to be played on Earth. Jack told me all about it years ago. People hit balls with these bats and ran around some... bases, I think he called them. Nobody's played it in decades at least; maybe a century."

"Well what's it doing here? Was it played in buildings like this?"

"I don't think so. It's hard to remember the details, though."

"Because it's been a long time?"

"Because I was mainly pretending to pay attention while I just enjoyed the sound of Jack's voice," Beverly admitted with a rueful smile. She noticed something in another part of the room. "Look at this, Jean- Luc."

They approached the object and stared curiously at it.

"Now what is a china doll doing here?" Captain Picard wondered. "Surely these two things would have been made in different factories."

"Could they have been left by children?"

"I suppose they might," Picard conceeded. "But I have the feeling there's more to the story than that. Let's see what else we can find."

"What about the robot?"

Picard shrugged.

"It may be in one of the other rooms. Come on, let's see what we can find."

Beverly smiled indulgently and shook her head.

"You'll never get your head out of the past will you, Jean-Luc?"

"On the contrary, Beverly. My head, as you put it, is in the past, the present and the future."

"Doesn't it ever get crowded in there?"

"Oh, all the time."

"What you need is someone to help you keep it all organized."

"To distract me, you mean," he grinned back at her. "Let's see what's behind that door."

He opened the door cautiously and walked slowly through. Beverly followed silently.

"Extraordinary," Picard breathed.

Inside the room there was a fourposter bed with singed draperies hung around it. On the charred chest against one wall sat two rows of china dolls, also badly damaged from the fire that had raged through the building. A variety of manacles and torture devices were scattered around the room as well.

"What the..." Beverly began. "Jean-Luc, this makes no sense. Who would live in a place like this?"

"Who...or what," Picard said. "At any rate, there's no sign of the robot."

"I say we move on."

Picard nodded.

"Agreed. Let's see what's in the next building."

As they moved to leave, Beverly tripped over a piece of debris on the floor. Picard reached out an arm to steady her. She ended facing him with her hands against his chest to steady herself. Their eyes met, their lips bare milimeteres apart. For a long moment they stared at one another, barely daring to breathe. At last, Beverly tilted her head slightly and pressed her lips to Picard's.