Wise green eyes watched as the girl unfolded herself and stumbled down the steps of the bus. His throat constricted as he saw what no one else did, amidst the noise and congratulatory laughter, her face was drawn and her eyes tired. Blonde hair tumbled around her face in disarray, blood from the wound on her head mingled with dust and tears that she had tried to wipe away. He watched her push it all aside and force happy words from her lips, much like she had done in the school when talking about shopping trips, they had all played the part, even him, he had even quoted himself, "the earth is definitely doomed". But it had felt empty, none of them had expected to make it out of that place alive, indeed not all of them had.
As he watched her, lost in his reverie, he realised she was looking at him curiously, her hazel and green eyes looked almost amber in the setting sun, and not for the first time, he saw the fire and the power in them that set her apart from the crowd. Slayer, he thought, unconsciously echoing the Vampire's pet name. He smiled cautiously at her, and was pleased to see her return the smile, but it wasn't really a smile, it was the same smile as before, the rueful, slightly hysterical smile she had worn as she looked out over the abyss that was her hometown. While the others had rejoiced, he had seen her thoughts. Her mother, Angel, her home, her life, Spike; all swallowed up by the thing she had spent a lifetime trying to destroy. A wave of sadness tightened his gut and he looked away.
"I'm hungryyyy!" Whined Dawn, breaking the silence that had fallen. They were stopped at a motel about 4 hours drive from the crater that was Sunnydale. Giles surveyed them all with a crooked grin, realising the mess they looked. Andrew was busily detailing the things he wanted to eat to Dawn, who was rolling her eyes and trying to get the dust out of her hair by running her hands through it and making it stick out on end. She was darting furtive glances at Xander as if trying to gauge how to approach him. Xander was playing with his eye patch, trying to get it to stay on straight, he was shifting his feet and not really looking at anybody, Giles felt a huge urge to hug the boy, but knew that it was too soon for emotions, if they started now they may never stop. His gaze fell on Faith, tenderly patching up Robin, he suppressed a smirk and quickly looked away to Willow. Unusually quiet, she looked as if she had just gone swimming in a pool full of frogs. Her eyes were slightly glazed and she looked nauseous. Giles sighed and reached for his glasses. They weren't on his face. He sighed again and chalked up another casualty of war.
"Right, lets all get inside and get rooms. Andrew can you round up the potentials and pair them off? We'll sort rooms out for them in pairs. Buffy?...Buffy?" She snapped out of her trance and looked up at him.
"Yeah? Uh, sorry Giles, I spaced."
"Can you sort rooms out for all of us, Andrew is sorting the potentials. "
"Sure, but where will you be?" A flicker of concern passed over her face and he hastened to reassure her by pointing over the road to a Mickey D's.
"I'll be hunter gathering, I'll meet you back here. One of you can come out to me and let me know which rooms are whose."
"Oh okay, sounds good, I'll bet everyone's tummies are feeling a bit rumbly, I'll come out and wait for you." She turned around then and started herding everyone inside. He frowned at her vagueness, but then chided himself, he had to remind himself that he was the only one not to have lost anything in this battle. His remorse for what was lost could be nothing compared to the others'.
He sauntered over the road and walked through the glass doors, smiling inwardly at the shocked looks on the faces of the people inside. He looked down at his ripped trousers and bleeding hands. He knew how he looked.
"Oh my goodness, are you okay? How did you get out?"
He looked up, puzzled, at the waitress who had spoken to him from the counter.
"Excuse me?"
"I'm sorry, I just assumed, well, I-I-I, were you from that town? The one that got all shook up by the quake?" She pointed to the TV on the wall and turned it up with a remote.
"No-one yet knows if there are any survivors" A news reporter was saying from a live feed at the crater, helicopters whirred overhead and dust was still settling on his shiny black suit. "A massive earthquake, unlike any known to these parts of Southern California has consumed this small town, leaving no buildings still standing. This huge hole in the ground behind me is all that remains of the town that was once Sunnydale. Not even the great quake of '34 caused this much damage. Our thoughts are with the families that are grieving at this tragic time. I'm joined now by seismologist Jim Hunter from..." with that the waitress muted the TV again.
Giles sighed and once again reached for his absent glasses. Deciding to clear his throat instead, he looked at the kindly waitress.
"Yes, I think we are all that's left of Sunnydale. We managed to get out just as the quake hit. It was a miracle. "He smiled.
"Yes, yes it was. My God. The angels must have been looking down on you. "
"Something like that" Giles fought back another smile.
"You said we, are there more?"
"Yes there are about 15 or so of us, I left them over at the motel to get rooms while I came to get food. At least I saved my wallet." If not my glasses he thought to himself.
"You won't need your wallet here sir. I have a miracle standing in front of me, I am not charging you for food and coffee, God may never forgive me!" She exclaimed, her eyebrows rose into the teased back blonde hair on top of her head.
"Oh, well that's extremely kind of you, thank you very much." Giles was greatly touched by this motherly woman, if a little amused.
He wandered back over the road, struggling with the 3 big bags of food, and balancing 2 trays of drinks. Buffy ran over to him and relieved his trays and a bag, performing a balancing act with her hands and the trays that only the Slayer could achieve.
"Come on Giles, let's feed the five thousand. Hair could fly if they don't get fed soon." She rolled her eyes in an attempt at her old Buffy humour, but he could see that that Buffy was gone now, a woman, battle scarred and careworn stood in her place, and he felt a new respect and admiration for her rising inside him. Falling into step with her they walked into the motel and gave each potential a drink and some food before coming to the last door.
"Buffy? This is the last room in the Motel, where are the others?"
"What others?"
"Well Dawn, Andrew, Willow, Xander? " Faith and Robin had their own room but were asleep in each other's arms when Buffy had cracked the door open to offer food.
"In here! Where else would they be?" She looked genuinely surprised at his question, and he realised that this was going to be a long night.
Opening the door he was greeted by Xander laid full stretch on one of the twin beds with Andrew sitting at his feet swinging his legs. Dawn and Willow were sat on the floor brushing each other's hair with what looked like a nail brush from the motel's bathroom, and the other bed was strewn with shoes and weapons and various other assorted things that had survived the ordeal, including...
"My glasses!!!!" Giles was overjoyed, ridiculously so in fact, but this was significant to him in huge ways. All is not lost he thought to himself.
Buffy shoved the stuff from the empty bed onto the floor and started spreading out burgers and fries and coffee. The others all fell on it like vultures, Giles selected himself a box of nuggets that looked slightly less offensive than the burgers.
Once the food was gone, they all leaned back and Giles looked around the cramped room that was starting to smell of feet. It was beginning to get dark outside. Suddenly an idea struck him.
"I'll be back in an hour. I'm not going far. I, ah, just need some fresh air and to stretch my legs, I'll be fine on my own, honestly Buffy!" He said as she started to protest.
Ignoring the hurt and worried looks from the others, Giles slipped outside and took a deep breath of fresh air, and then he set off back over the road on his mission.
When he returned, about an hour and a half later, the room was in chaos. He dumped the refuse sacks he was carrying, and stared around him, bemused. Dawn was sobbing in Xander's arms; who was also blinking back tears. Willow was shaking in a corner of the room and Buffy was pacing around the room, her fear and anger evident.
"What's happened? What's going on? Is everyone alright?" His panic was coming through in his voice. What had happened?
At the sound of his voice, everyone looked up, their jaws dropping; Buffy strode over to him and slapped him the face. He lost his balance and tripped over one of the bin bags, landing in an undignified heap on the floor. Rubbing his cheek he gazed up at the Slayer and realised his mistake as she doubled up then sank to the floor, clutching him into a ferocious hug. She burst into tears and he rocked her, smoothing her hair. Before he knew it, all of them were piled on the floor in a monster hug. Buffy was mumbling wetly into his shirt.
"Don't leave us, you can't leave us, I can't do this without you, Giles please please don't leave, ohgodIcan'tdothisGilesIcan'tdothisalone please" He painfully remembered the last time she had spoken these words and the last time she had hit him like that. It was in the old factory when he had gone to hunt Angel after Jenny had been slaughtered.
Patting them all slightly awkwardly, he extracted himself from the tangle of arms and legs and stood. They all got to their feet sheepishly and looked at him. He looked right back. He saw the Witch, he saw her confusion and sadness. He saw the boy, now a man, the heart and soul of the group, his pain screaming out from every pore. He saw the lost little girl, trying to be brave and grown up. He saw the forced casual stance of the scared child who wanted to be a superhero but couldn't even work a microwave, his face scrunched up in consternation. Lastly he saw the Warrior, the protector, the vulnerable woman with tears pooling in her eyes.
"I didn't go far. I wasn't leaving you, I would NEVER leave you. Why would you think that? How on earth could you think such a thing? Good Lord! I was half an hour late!" He massaged his face again.
"Giles, I'm sorry, you were gone, and with everything, I just, well we thought you might just not come back, that you would be safer someplace that wasn't with us. I guess we overreacted, but what do you expect? After everything? You didn't say where you were going, you just LEFT!" She gulped down a sob and added as an afterthought, "Oh and I'm sorry about your face. But on the bright side, you're still conscious! It's a start!?" Buffy paused for breath and gazed up at him. "What's in the bags anyway? Brought us some garbage?"
Exhaling slowly, Giles went over to the bags and upturned them onto the bed. Amid gasps of wonder and joy, Dawn piped up first "I call the shower first!"
"Dammit! You brat, I'm so first, the power of my one eye commands it. Besides, I think I take the prize for smelliest person here, I have man-sweat to contend with!"
"Eeew gross Xander! Uh uh, no way, I DEFINETELY get to go first. I have hair to wash and, uh, well I am the youngest so I should shower first so I can go to bed early, like a,a good kid, right?" Dawn looked at Buffy for support, but Buffy was too busy rifling through the piles of clothes on the bed.
"Giles, where? How? And also EW!" She held up a ruffled blouse, "Even my dead grandmother wouldn't wear this!"
"Oh ok, well if these garments aren't good enough for you, stay in your bloodstained 'fashion victim' clothes, give me my blouse back and I will return everything. Good heavens Buffy, we averted an apocalypse and narrowly escaped with our lives and still everything has to be, ah, colour coordinated and made by Pooda?" Giles sniffed haughtily as Buffy erupted into giggles.
"Do you mean Prada? Anyway Giles, I'm not complaining, I was mocking. Remember those carefree days when we could mock without consequence and life was sweet?" She smirked at him and he allowed himself to grin at her.
"Well I popped over the road and saw a lovely lady called Gina, who has a big family, and she very kindly donated these to us. She's a waitress at the McDonalds I got our food from, and she offered to help us if we needed anything. She also gave me a map which is good, as until now I had no idea where we were. Turns out we're just outside Warner Springs. So we can either go South to San Diego, or back North to..well wherever I suppose." He smiled at them expectantly, awaiting a response.
"Ooooh, can we go to TJ? Let's go see a donkey show. I heard about those from Janice, she said her Aunt went. Do they have like actual donkeys, doing tricks and stuff? Do they wear those cute little straw hats?...What? WHAT?" Dawn whined petulantly at the uncomfortable looks from the others.
"The donkey shows are lame." Andrew interjected, then he blushed "Not that I went, Jonathon did, he told me about them, pffft donkey show, why would I go? Nuh uh, not me. No donkeys for me, ahem, anyway..."
"Well since I am not really one for the donkeys myself..."Willow turned and looked pointedly at Xander for help.
"Uh Dawn, there's no donkey's in a donkey show. But changing the subject swiftly and subtly...I don't think Tijuana is the place for us to be, OHMYGOD did I just say that?" He looked at Buffy who cleared her throat. She in turn looked at Giles, who just shrugged and raised an eyebrow at her. You're on your own with this one he told her with his eyes. She glared at him before turning back to the others.
"Right, no donkey shows, no Mexico, no TJ. We need sleep and showers. We'll gather everyone in the morning and talk through our next moves over breakfast. I think that-"She stopped talking as a squeal of tyres was heard outside in the parking lot; Dawn looked outside at the sporty red car that had come to a stop in a cloud of burning rubber.
"Giles – it looks like your old car!"
"Hmmm? Oh my car? I miss that car..." he looked whimsical for a moment before ordering them all to form a calm queue for the shower and helping them pick absurd outfits for sleeping in. He smiled as Buffy and Willow giggled over who gets which football jersey to sleep in, and rolled his eyes as Buffy mourned the loss of her Yummy Sushi PJ's.
He started towards the bathroom for his turn in the shower. As he removed his glasses there was a loud thumping at the door. Immediately everyone jumped and stopped what they were doing, with Buffy on alert, ready to attack whoever came through the door.
Giles cautiously moved towards the door and swung it open, pulling the person inside and pinning them against the wall.
"OUCH! Get your smelly, vampire dust covered hands off me RIGHT NOW Giles. I thought stuffy British people were meant to have manners or something? I guess there's some things money CAN'T buy you. No. Wait. There isn't. Why are you all staring at me?" The blonde girl with the torn, bloodstained shirt glared at them all.
There was a long, tense pause, then finally Xander broke the silence and spoke...
"Anya?"