Title: The F.G.U.
Author: Pattyanne
snapkik@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: None of the BtVS
characters belong to me.
Feedback: Love some, thanks
Summary: Buffy has a late night
visitor. Just a little bit of whimsical
silliness.



Part two....



~~~~~
"Magically, you're holding the
golden prize..."
~~~~~



Buffy sat back up. "Do you have a name?"

The old woman's eyes widened comically, and
her mouth formed a perfect O. "Goodness! How
dreadfully rude of me not to introduce myself. I
simply don't know where my mind gets to at
times." She extended one hand. "Abigail Potter.
Mrs. Potter, if you please. So very happy to
finally meet you, my dear."

Buffy returned the handclasp, pleasantly surprised
at the warmth and softness of the small hand. "I'm
pleased to meet you, too," she replied, calling up
the manners her mother had worked so hard to drill
into her head. "Can I...MAY I ask you another question?"

"Why certainly," Mrs. Potter smiled sweetly.

"What...I mean who...are you?"

Mrs. Potter gave her an appraising look. "Don't you
know, dear? You're a fairly perceptive and intelligent
young lady...when you want to be...and I've dropped
more than one hint tonight."

Buffy shook her head, not prepared to say it herself.
"Please just tell me."

The old lady sighed. "Oh, dear. I was afraid of this."

"Afraid of what?" Buffy frowned.

Mrs. Potter studied Buffy's face for a moment, silently.

"My dear child," she finally said. "You have a lamentable
tendency to not see the obvious when it is as plain as
the nose on your sweet face. Which, considering your
occupation, is an odd character trait. You demand to
have things spelled out to you in excruciating detail, when
you are perfectly well aware of what you are seeing and
hearing. " She sighed again. "And even when they ARE
spelled out for you...you ignore, and you deny, and you
argue yourself into a state of positive inertia."

Standing up suddenly, she picked up her wand and
waved it in a circle.

Buffy gasped at the sparkling and multi-hued rainbow
thay was now arching across her bedroom from corner
to corner. "Oh!"

Mrs. Potter snapped her fingers, and a shower of
fragrant wildflowers cascaded down from the rainbow and
landed on the bed. A flick of her hand produced a
diamond tiara on the slayer's honey colored hair.

"Hold out your hand and close your eyes," she in-
structed.

Buffy obeyed without thinking twice, and felt a light
touch on her palm. When she was told to open her
eyes, she saw a tiny crystal horse and an all too
familiarly shaped carriage...something she'd seen in
countless childhood story books...perched in the
middle of her hand.

"Now," Mrs. Potter said. "Are you ready to see, and
to accept?"

Buffy smiled, her eyes shining like a brand new star.
"You're a...a.."

"I am," the old lady nodded. "Now...say it."

The slayer took a deep breath. "A fairy godmother?"

With another wave of Mrs. Potter's hand, the room
returned to it's original condition. Everything disappeared
except for the crystal horse and coach. "For you to keep,"
she said with a smile.

The thing was so beautiful that Buffy's eyes nearly
filled with tears. "Thank you," she said softly, placing
it on her night stand.

"You're very welcome, dear," Mrs. Potter said. "Now,"
she continued, "any further questions?"

"Well...since you asked." **Only about a million....**

Mrs. Potter gave her an expectant look.

"Well, um...why were you assigned to me? I mean, was
it one of those 'reach into a hat and choose a piece of
paper with someone's name on it' kinda thingys?"

The woman sighed. "She never learns," she mumbled. "Why
do I even bother?" Leaning back in the chair, she closed
her eyes and massaged her temples. "Care to ask that
question again, dear?"

Buffy's cheeks turned red. "Which question? The 'why were
you assigned to me' one...or the 'kinda thingys' ?"

Mrs. Potter shook her head. "Never mind," she said
wearily. "I'll save you the trouble." Sitting upright, she
opened her eyes and pinned her gaze on Buffy's. "Make
no mistake, my dear. I was NOT assigned to you. I
requested you."

"How come? I mean, why?"

"Oh, I've been monitoring your case for quite some time
now, and please allow me to say how very interesting
it's been. Interesting AND entertaining as well. Such
cliffhangers you have. Very exciting, dear. Very exciting,
indeed."

"Glad I could help," Buffy muttered, picking at a loose
thread on her blanket.

"My goodness, yes. Even I wondered what was going to
happen next...and I already KNEW what was going to
happen next."

Buffy stared at the woman. "Well, you might have mentioned
it now and then," she said huffily. "Do you have any
idea how many times I nearly died? That I DID die once?
I drowned in a pool of dirty water. The world has almost
ended so many times that you need a program to keep
the apocalypses in order..."

Mrs. Potter listened calmly to Buffy's rant. "And yet,
you're alive...and the world is still standing."

"Well...yeah," Buffy stammered. "That's true. But, still..."

"Still nothing, my dear." Mrs. Potter waved one hand
impatiently. "If you don't know by now that you've been
kept a close watch on...then you are quite beyond hope
and I'm obviously wasting my time with you."

She gathered her bag up and began to rise to her feet.

Buffy felt awful, as though she'd been insufferably rude
to a beloved grandmother...an impudent, mouthy child
who needed to be set back a peg."

"Or two," Mrs. Potter murmured, straightening her
sleeves.

Again, Buffy's cheeks flamed bright red. "I'm sorry. I
really....I shouldn't have..."

Mrs. Potter cut her off with a sharply raised hand, then
smiled sweetly. "I accept your apology, dear." Resettling
herself in her chair, she said, "After all, you haven't had an
ordinary row to hoe. Things have been difficult for you...as
they were for all the ones who came before you. And you
must know that there's only so much outside influence
available to help you along your particular path. You're
quite fortunate in that you already have a great deal of
help right here alongside you."

Buffy nodded. That was true. No other slayer in the
history of the profession had ever been able to rely on
so many others, friends and family both.

"I know I'm lucky," she admitted. "My friends, and Giles,
and....."

"Yes," Mrs. Potter said. "And HIM, as well. What a
surprise THAT was, let me tell you."

"Oh, come on," Buffy grinned. "You didn't have a little
bit to do with it? Being my fairy godmother and all?"



~~~~~
"Mystically, your castles begin to rise..."
~~~~~



"Well," Mrs. Potter said modestly, "not at first. Oh, after I
was able to zero in on a few unexpressed feelings I picked
up on, I may have given a slight nudge here and there,
but the majority of the credit really goes to your beau."

Buffy looked surprised. "What about me?"

"You?" The old lady was nearly laughing out loud. "My
dear child, I've never seen anyone so stubbornly determined
to deny herself the very thing she wanted and needed most of
all."

"Which was...?"

"Unconditional love, my heart. Complete, and total, and
unquestioning...from someone who knows you to the very
marrow of your bones. Someone who can deal with
you on your own terms. Someone willing to put your needs
first...which as you and I both know, no one has done
before."

Buffy folded her arms across her chest and leaned back
against the headboard of her bed. "Someone who happens
to be a vampire?"

Mrs. Potter shrugged. "Well, nobody's perfect. Besides, as
soon as I began to realize which way the wind was blowing,
I took care of that little problem...as best I could."

"Excuse me?" Buffy asked. "You...took care of..."

"I admit, I couldn't undo what had been done. That's simply
not within my realm of power. So I...arranged for him to be
in the right place, at the right time, and that nasty little
band of cub scouts did the rest."

"Hoo, boy," Buffy muttered, shaking her head. "If he only
knew."

"If he only knew...what?" Mrs. Potter demanded. "Let me
tell you something, young lady. If he knew, he would thank
me. He's extremely happy to be with you, and it's a trade
he would make again willingly. You may depend upon that!"

Buffy knew the woman spoke the truth. Spike had said much
the same thing many times.

"He most certainly has!" said Mrs. Potter, as though Buffy
had spoken her thoughts out loud. "So, all's well that
ends well. It was a bit of work for everyone involved, but
that's always the way it is...because despite what they
write in those stories for children, lasting love and happiness
is never achieved by a mere snap of ones fingers."

She actually snapped her fingers for emphasis, and a
Shetland pony with a large red bow around his neck
appeared at the foot of the bed.

"Oh, dear," Mrs. Potter exclaimed. "I do beg your pardon."
An additional finger snap made the pony disappear. "That
wish was left over from your sixth birthday," she said. "I
really must remember to update my files."

Buffy laughed. "So, it's YOUR fault I never got that pony."

"Yes. I'm afraid that, like most wishes, it was wonderful in
theory but hardly practical in application." Sitting back in
her chair, Mrs. Potter gave Buffy an appraising look. "How-
ever...your latest heart felt wish is every bit as wonderful in
both theory and reality. In fact, it's so delightful that I had
to come and deal with it personally."

Buffy's brow furrowed. Her latest heart felt wish? What
could that be?

**What...stay alive a little longer? Hit all six numbers on
the lottery? Not have to be the slayer anymore?**

No, it wasn't that. She'd come to terms with that long
ago, and she hadn't wished that she was someone else
in ages.

But, no matter how hard she concentrated, she couldn't
remember consciously making any wishes lately, heart felt
or otherwise.

"That's true, you haven't," Mrs. Potter said. "You've been
very good about that. But I've been tiptoeing around in
your SUB-conscious, and I found what I was looking for
in a place so deeply buried inside of you that you have
absolutely no awareness of it's existence."



~~~~~
"Suddenly, dizzily you're spinning
with the thrill of life..."
~~~~~



There was a long pause.

"Are you gonna tell me what it is?" Buffy finally
asked. "Or are we gonna play twenty questions?"

Mrs. Potter winced. "No, I am not GOING to tell you,"
she said. "Although it would serve you right if I told
you it was a wish for better grammatical skills." She
wagged a scolding finger. "Fortunately for you, the FGU
has an ethics code, and we cannot..."

"The who?"

"The Fairy Godparent's Union," Mrs. Potter said. "We
have a mandate that we all strictly adhere to, and the
first item on that mandate is 'No tampering with wishes'."

She frowned briefly. "Or is it 'No personal business on
company time' ? No, no...perhaps it's..."

"You were saying?" Buffy interjected, trying to ward off
what sounded like a laundry list of rules and regulations.

"Oh, yes...quite. As I was saying...we cannot tamper
with a wish, one expressed or kept secret...just to
please ourselves. I mean, if we allowed that sort of
behavior, then we'd never get anything done. Do you see
my meaning?"

Buffy nodded. "Makes sense."

"Mind you, I can choose not to grant a wish," Mrs.
Potter added. "But I cannot alter it."

"Okay,okay." Buffy was becoming impatient. "But
what about MY wish? This one I have that I don't
know about?"

"Oh, you know about it, dear. You're just hiding it so
well that you cannot find it."

"Can you give me a hint?"

Her fairy godmother gave her a tender smile. "A hint? Well,
I suppose I can. And I shall....soon."

Buffy's face formed the pout that usually got her
anything she wanted from the man who loved her, but
the expression was cutting zero ice with the lady
seated before her. "When?"

"You'll know it when you see it," Mrs. Potter assured
her, then sighed and rose to her feet, bag in hand. "I
need to be running along now, dear."

"Oh, no!" Buffy protested. She glanced at her clock,
surprised to see that it was still showing 1:00 A.M. "Hey!"

"I've been holding time," Mrs. Potter explained. "But it
always takes so much out of me."

Buffy got up on her knees and reached for the old
lady's hand. "Can't you stay just a little longer? There's
so much I want to ask you."

Mrs. Potter shook her head kindly. "There will be time for
all that later, dear heart," she said, squeezing Buffy's hand.
"But, unless I'm mistaken...and I never am...someone will
be here to see you very soon, and I certainly wouldn't want
to interfere in the course of true love." She gave Buffy a wink
and a smile that almost made her look girlish. "Not tonight,
at any rate," she added pertly.



TBC....

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