Her ears were ringing.

That was Buffy's first thought, oddly enough. She blinked, dazed, reaching up almost absently to where her head was throbbing and stared for a moment in confusion when her fingers came away coated red. Her jaw ached as well, she could taste blood in her mouth and her right eye was rapidly swelling.

Stunned, she blinked up at the man standing over her, his expression blank. But Ted's chest was rising and falling, she could see… he was speaking, his lips moving but she couldn't hear him and anger flashed across his face as he reached out, grabbing her by the shoulders and forcibly lifted her to her feet. Fear trickled through her. Who was he? She couldn't remember the last time something had been strong enough to injure her with one blow.

Human, a voice whispered as she watched him breathe. He's human… you can't fight back.

She looked up with her one good eye just in time to see him reach for her again; there was no coherent thought in her decision to duck through his arms and stumble from her bedroom, running into her mother, who was standing in the hallway. Their eyes met for one moment- just long enough for Buffy to see the confusion in Joyce's- before she lurched away, pushing past her and down the stairs. Once out the house she began to run. She had no particular direction in mind, just a need to get as far away as possible.

At one point, she thought her other eye had been injured as well when her vision swam and blurred, before she realised with surprise that she was crying. Roughly, she swiped the tears away, her whole body aching from where she'd slammed into the wall. One hit, she thought in confusion, there had been one hit but there had been enough force behind it to knock her across the room and into the wall.

She realised that without thinking she'd ended up at school, her feet automatically directing her towards the library.

"Giles?" she called out hopefully, groaning slightly when her whole face seemed to protest the movement this caused. But it was late, and the library was bathed in darkness. Buffy let out a sob, stumbling over to the counter and sinking down to huddle against it, not fighting against the fresh wave of tears.

She didn't hear the door open, but the soft voice calling her name caught her attention. "Buffy?" Jenny Calendar frowned, stepping inside and peering into the darkness. "Buffy is that you?"

"It's me…" Buffy answered hoarsely.

"I thought I saw you come in here. What are you doing here so late? Are you alright?" Jenny leant over to flick a light on, and gasped when she saw Buffy's face. "What happened?!"

Buffy opened her mouth to answer but instead she found herself sobbing, pressing a hand to her mouth in an attempt to hold back.

"Oh honey…" Jenny knelt beside her, hesitating only a moment before she slowly reached out and drew the girl into a hug. Buffy resisted for a moment, then collapsed into her, her whole body trembling as she wept. Jenny murmured nonsense to her as she held her, one hand coming up to stroke gently over her hair, eyes widening when she caught sight of blood staining the tips of her fingers. It took several minutes, but finally Buffy calmed down somewhat and Jenny pulled back to look at her face.

"Buffy? Buffy, I need to take you to the hospital-" she began but the teen cut her off.

"No!"

"You have a head injury." Jenny said firmly. "Not to mention a black eye and what I think might be a broken jaw. I'm taking to you to hospital. Can you stand?"

Buffy nodded, instantly regretting it when the pain intensified. She moaned softly, not paying much attention to her surroundings as Jenny carefully stood her upright and began to guide her outside. The teenager was swaying and weaving, she noticed, catching hold of her just before she crashed into a display case. It was a miracle she'd made it to the library without being hit by a car or something.

It took some doing, but eventually they both made it to Jenny's car and then to the hospital, where a nurse took one look at Buffy and quickly ushered them through to a cubicle. "You her mother?" she questioned doubtfully, looking at Jenny.

"I- no. I'm her teacher… and a family friend." She added quickly, seeing the nurse's look.

"You ain't family, you gotta stay in the waiting room. We'll call her mother-"

"No!" Buffy cried, pulling away from the nurse and backing up several steps into Jenny. "No, let her stay! Please. Don't call my mother, I don't want her here. I want Miss Calendar."

Jenny was quick to reach out, taking the hand Buffy was grasping with and wrapping an arm around her waist to lead her to the bed. "I'm not going anywhere." She assured her firmly, pinning the nurse with a cool look. "Not unless you want me to, at any rate."

"I don't! Please stay."

The nurse looked unhappy but there was nothing she could do as Jenny took a seat Buffy's bedside, soothing the distraught girl the best she could. "Buffy? Honey, I know you don't want to talk about it and that's fine, but I need to know- is whatever did this going to hurt anyone else?" Jenny asked carefully, rubbing soothing circles onto the back of her hand. Buffy shook her head, instantly wincing.

"Okay." Jenny accepted simply, continuing the calming motions as Buffy continued to cry softly. She watched the teenager helplessly, uncertain of how much comfort she would be willing to accept, especially from her. But she couldn't sit and watch the girl cry either, so she shifted to sit next to her on the bed and embraced her gently, not moving until the doctor entered to begin her examination.

Buffy clung to her hand throughout the lengthy examination, her out-of-character behaviour not helping Jenny's concern in the slightest.

"Right- I'm going to call a porter to take you down to x-ray to confirm your jaw is broken and also send you for a MRI to check for bleeding on the brain. I'll come back once the results are ready." The doctor stood, glancing at Jenny. "May I speak to you? Outside?"

"Miss Calendar…" Buffy looked nervous, eyes wide.

"I'll be right outside, I promise." Jenny squeezed her hand. "You'll be able to see me the whole time."

She followed the doctor out, looking at her curiously. "Miss Calendar, as Miss Summers is a minor under usual circumstances we would call her legal guardian- in this case her mother. However, she's made her wishes quite clear in that regard and despite her concussion we do have to abide by them. But…"

"But?"

"I am obligated to report cases of suspected child abuse regardless of the age of the child." The doctor dropped her voice. "And as Miss Summers has been as yet unforthcoming regarding the circumstances of her injuries…"

"I understand." Jenny felt her stomach sink. "For what it's worth, Buffy is exceptionally close with another teacher at the school- I have no doubt that if there had been any sign of abuse before he would have come forward."

"I see. Have there been any changes in her personal life recently? New people? Perhaps a boyfriend? Contact with her father, perhaps?"

"I… I believe her mother might have a new boyfriend." Jenny said slowly, feeling like there were rocks in her stomach as she recalled the conversation she'd overheard between Willow and Rupert earlier that day. The realities of that hit her and she felt the blood drain from her face. "Oh God…"

The doctor looked sympathetic. "She won't be the first one I've seen. You're a teacher… I imagine you've seen a few too."

"Unfortunately." Jenny grimaced. There were always a few, in every year group. The majority were neglect cases of varying severity, sometimes there was physical or sexual abuse. Every so often there would be a girl or boy with an abusive partner- she winced inwardly at this thought, because so far those had never ended well. But Buffy… Buffy was the slayer. Even after the Master, she'd been a bit bruised but her injuries were relatively minor. What had happened to cause her injuries this severe?

"I'll send a nurse in to take pictures while we're waiting for the porter." The doctor was saying. "I'll have to call the police as well, and they'll likely contact social services-"

Jenny felt thoroughly out of her depth. She had no idea how Buffy was going to take all this, or even if it was the right thing to do. Perhaps a demon had injured her after all. As quickly and politely as she could, she thanked the doctor and returned to Buffy, only to find her crying quietly. She was in no state to answer questions, Jenny realised somewhat panickily, and she had no idea what to do or how best to help her. Instead, she simply tried to comfort her as two nurses entered with a camera. They took pictures of all her injuries, including the rapidly darkening bruises on her back and right side before a porter arrived to take her for her scans.

"Miss Calendar, can you come?" Buffy pleaded.

"No honey, I'm not allowed in there. But I promise I will be right here waiting for you once you're done."

As soon as she was out of sight, Jenny hurried to the nurse's desk and asked to borrow the phone, dialling the number from memory on her second attempt.

"Hello?"

"Rupert it's me. Jenny." Relief rushed through her at the sound of his voice. "I'm at the hospital, in the ER."

"Are you okay?" alarm coloured his voice and she could practically hear him shooting upright.

"It's not me." She reassured him hastily. "It's Buffy."

"Buffy?"

"I found her in the library. Rupert, it's bad."

There was a long pause. "Is- is she…?"

"Shoot, no! I'm sorry, I'm not being very clear." She ran a hand through her hair, taking a deep breath. "She's fine. Well, not fine- she has a head injury with a concussion and a possible brain bleed, a black eye, suspected broken jaw and a lot of bruising."

"What happened? Was she attacked? Was it a demon?"

"Not the kind you mean."

"What?" the rustling she could hear in the background paused.

"I don't think it was a demon attack, Rupert. She's distraught, barely coherent." Jenny bit her lip. "Don't get me wrong, I like Buffy. She's a sweet girl and possibly the bravest person I've ever met, but I'm not as close to her as you are, or as I am to Willow. But she's clinging to me like a child would- when the nurse suggested I wait outside she freaked. I don't think she's stopped crying either."

"That... doesn't sound like Buffy."

"Yes, Rupert, that's kind of my point!" she hissed, smiling politely at a nurse walking by.

"Right- yes of course." He stammered slightly. "Jenny- I'm leaving now. Have you called her mother?"

"She was adamant she didn't want her here. Rupert…" she hesitated for a long moment. "Please hurry."

"On my way."

She hung up the phone and returned to the cubicle, fingers tapping nervously as she waited for Buffy to return, the bustle and noise of the ER surrounding her. A few cubicles down she could hear a man swearing violently, although at what, she wasn't certain. There were a couple of children shrieking and shouting, a woman weeping and someone was groaning dramatically. There was a lot of shouting and raised voices, and every so often a pair of rubber-soled shoes would go sprinting past. She wasn't sure how long she was there for- long enough for the screaming baby next door to be discharged and replaced by a drunk college student singing camp-fire songs.

"Jenny?"

"Rupert!" undiluted relief rushed through her when he slipped through the curtain and she was in his arms before she'd even registered that she'd stood up. They stayed like that for a few seconds before she pulled away, blushing. "Sorry. But I'm really glad you're here."

"How is she?"

"They haven't brought her back yet."

"Back?"

"They took her for an x-ray and an MRI." She explained, waiting for him to pull up a chair before sitting herself. "She looked… bad."

"Did she tell you what happened?" he asked softly, leaning forward to take her hand. She shook her head.

"I asked if whatever had done it was going to hurt anyone else and she said no. I didn't push it, she was really upset."

"I don't understand- you said you found her in the library? If she'd been injured on patrol why didn't she call me from a payphone?" he frowned. Jenny shifted.

"I'm not sure she was injured on patrol. Her mother has a new boyfriend, doesn't she?"

He blinked, taken aback. "Yes, I believe so. What does that have to do with-?" he cut himself off, looking aghast. "You don't think…?"

"I do. The way she was acting… she's fought demons before. But being attacked in her home by someone she can't- or thinks she can't- fight back against? That's a vastly different situation." Jenny pressed her lips together. "It would explain her behaviour, and why she tried to come to you."

"To me?"

"She feels safe with you. Anyone could see that." Jenny shrugged. "It's hardly surprising that her first instinct was to come to you."

There was a long moment of silence. "Then thank God you were there." Giles said simply. Jenny looked up at him, lacing their fingers together.

"Rupert- the doctor, she's calling the police over this." She said quietly.

"The police?"

"State law in suspected child abuse cases." She explained. "But if she testifies that her mother's boyfriend did this and Mrs Summers refuses to break up with him…"

"They'll remove Buffy from her mother's custody." He finished. "But Joyce… she loves Buffy. Surely she wouldn't stay with him?"

"It would hardly be the first time a parent put their relationship over their child." She pointed out unhappily. He grimaced.

"Quite."

"Would the Watcher's council allow that to happen?" she asked. "I mean, she'd likely be sent to live with her father, wouldn't she?"

"That would rather depend on schools."

"Schools?"

"I believe the reason Mrs Summers moved here in the first place was because no school in LA would accept Buffy. Since I doubt her father intends to leave the city anytime soon…" he trailed off, his point needing no further explanation.

"So foster care?"

He shook his head. "That the council definitely wouldn't allow. Too much paperwork if… if the worst should happen."

"Nice." Jenny wrinkled her nose.

"And I wouldn't allow it." He added. "Not when there are other options available for her."

"You'd take her in." Jenny smiled slightly and he blushed.

"It's actually fairly common for Watcher's to become their charge's legal guardian, even if their parents are alive." He explained hastily. "That way, they can be trained and educated from childhood. The council have a lot of influence over these things- they might not even give Buffy a choice."

Jenny hummed, looking at him in amusement. "You don't fool me, Rupert Giles. Council or not, you love that girl. You'd never let her wind up in the system."

"I- well, I- um-"

She huffed out a laugh at his stammering. "I can't believe we're having to discuss this." She murmured. Rupert had opened his mouth to say something in reply when the curtain opened, revealing Buffy being wheeled in by a porter. Both adults rose, Jenny reaching out to help her get situated on the bed, grabbing a blanket to put over the hospital gown.

"Hey honey." She greeted. "Did they say anything about the results while you were there?"

"No." Buffy replied softly.

"Okay. The doctor should be in soon then."

There was a silence as Buffy picked at the blanket. "You don't have to stay." she blurted out. Jenny blinked.

"Sorry?"

"You… you don't have to stay. I know I was being needy-girl before, but I'll be fine. Will or Xander can pick me up, or-"

"Buffy." Jenny interrupted, placing a hand over hers to stop her movements. "I'm not going anywhere." The girl glanced at her, studying her for a moment before relaxing slightly and giving a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "And neither is Rupert."

"Rupert?" Buffy questioned, then looked past her for the first time to where the librarian was hovering awkwardly. "Giles!"

"Buffy. How are you feeling?" he asked warmly, stepping forward.

"Strangely, better now that you're here." She paused, and glanced at Jenny. "No offence Miss Calendar."

"None taken. He has that effect on people." She grinned at him sideways and he looked like her was trying very hard not to roll his eyes. Buffy looked from one to the other and smiled slightly.

"Are you not mad at him anymore?" at the stammering and blushes of both adults, she grinned wider then winced, holding her hand to her jaw for a brief moment. "Ow!"

"That'll be your fractured jaw." The doctor supplied as she entered, slipping the x-rays up onto the wall. She glanced at Giles, flicking a questioning gaze to Jenny, who shook her head with a small smile to explain that he was no danger.

"Fractured jaw?" Buffy questioned unhappily.

"A minor hairline fracture. I won't have to wire it, but I will wrap your head up for a few weeks to prevent further injury." The doctor explained. Buffy made a face before remembering that with her healing, it would likely only be a couple of days.

"What about her head?" Jenny asked anxiously.

"No sign of serious injury- you will need to be watched for the next 48 hours though. Any sign of changes in behaviour or condition and you'll need to come straight back in." she instructed as she began to wrap a bandage around Buffy's jaw.

"We'll keep an eye on her." Giles confirmed.

"You also need to keep the stitches on your head dry." She continued. "There'll be an appointment for you to have them removed in three to five days- any signs of infection-"

"We'll bring her back in." Jenny finished. Buffy was frowning, glancing at her and Giles uncertainly. The doctor finished, and stepped back.

"Okay then, we're all done here. I'll have the nurse fetch the discharge paperwork for you and then you're free to go." She smiled. Buffy touched the bandage.

"Be honest with me Giles- just how bad do I look?"

The doctor touched Jenny's arm. "You understand the police will likely be in touch." She said softly. Jenny nodded.

"I know. We'll explain it to her."

"Under normal circumstances I would admit her overnight." The doctor continued quietly. "But when I mentioned that during her scan she was adamant she wouldn't stay. The only reason I'm releasing her into your care is because the alternative was her leaving by herself AMA in the middle of the night."

"We'll look after her." Jenny promised.

"Good. I'll send the nurse in with the paperwork."

It took half an hour, but eventually Buffy was back in her own clothes and the three were walking out the hospital. They'd barely made it a dozen steps, however, when Buffy stopped dead.

"Oh God…"

"What's wrong?" Giles questioned, visibly concerned as his hands hovered anxiously.

"My diary." She breathed. "He had it, he was going to show it to mom. She'll… she'll think I've gone mad. I can't… she won't…"

The blonde was breathing faster and faster, eyes panicked. "Buffy… Buffy breathe. Nice and slow." Jenny grabbed her hands, bringing them to her chest. "Breathe with me, honey."

Buffy was muttering to herself between gasps, too quietly for Jenny to hear everything, but the odd few words had her concerned. "…insane…can't go back there…not mad…"

"You're not going back home, Buffy." Jenny soothed. "We wouldn't let you."

Buffy looked at her with wide eyes. "But-"

"No buts. You're not going home until we know your mother's boyfriend is completely out of the picture."

"You know!?"

Jenny exchanged another uncertain look with Giles. "I think we've figured most of it out, yeah."

"Oh God…"

"Buffy, listen to me." Giles held her shoulders gently, forcing her to look at him. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. None of this is your fault. He's a human- barely- who did a horrendous thing. The fact that you didn't fight back speaks to the strength of your moral character, not a weakness. You have nothing to feel badly about."

Buffy burst into tears. Giles instantly drew her into a hug, wrapping his arms around her tightly as she clung to him, sobbing into his shirt. He looked up, meeting Jenny's gaze and she was unsurprised to see a fierce anger smouldering here. All she could do was reach out to rub soothing circles on the girl's back, swallowing thickly.

"I should get her home. It's late." Giles murmured once Buffy's sobs had subsided in intensity. Jenny bit her lip.

"Rupert? Please don't take this the wrong way, but if it was ever discovered that you'd had a teenaged student alone in your house overnight…" she trailed off awkwardly, looking uncomfortable.

"Ah."

"Sorry."

"No… no, you're quite right. Questions may be raised." He conceded, somewhat stiffly. Then he raised an eyebrow at her. "I suppose you had better spend the night with me then."

Eyes wide, she spluttered slightly, flushing red. "Funny. You're a funny guy." She managed eventually, hand on her hip as she glared at him. He looked innocent, as Buffy turned her head to watch them, still leaning against her watcher. "I'll follow you back." Jenny jabbed a thumb in the direction of her own car, shaking her head slightly as she departed from the two. That man was just full of surprises.