"It can't. Stop! Stop! You can't…I can't!" Giles listened from the hallway as Willow mumbled incoherently to herself. He entered the room slowly and quickly located the witch huddled in an otherwise empty corner of the room.
"It's here all the time. Won't go...won't go…" She was clawing at her knuckles, which were already bleeding. Giles hurried over to her.
"Willow…" He grabbed her wrists and tried to hold them apart, "Willow, please stop doing that. You're hurting yourself."
"It's in my fingers. 'We always touch digits! It's a friend thing!' He said. They're are always tingling with power. It's in my fingers. Can't count the digits. 31415926535…"
Willow struggled against his grip on her wrists and Giles looked helplessly into her vacant eyes.
"I have to get it out…have to get out...won't go...can't go…" Giles lightly pinched her arm, thankful when Willow seemed to snap out of it, "W-wha? I can't...Giles? I…"
"Are you okay?" Giles asked.
Trembling, Willow nodded slowly.
Giles stared at her, concerned. He lightly held one of Willow's hands. Reaching into his shirt pocket, he drew out a handkerchief, which he used to carefully dab at the wound.
Staring at her hand, Willow said, "Did I do that?"
Giles didn't look up, "Yes."
"I don't remember."
"I know."
Willow let him clean off her bloodied knuckles. "I'm getting better, aren't I? Aren't I supposed to be getting better? Miss Harkness said…"
"You are getting better, Willow." Giles said, "You came out of it quickly, and it's been almost two weeks."
"And now we're back at zero…"
"Willow, it doesn't work like that. It will happen less and less frequently until it stops all together." Giles explained.
"And when will that be, Giles? Am I always gonna have to worry about relapsing? Even in ten, twenty years?" Willow looked at him in the eyes, daring him to lie to her.
"Willow," Giles cautioned, "you're getting better. Just continue to focus on controlling the forces inside of you-"
Willow scoffed, "'The forces inside of me'. Right. Because you're watcher guy. You only do the magick stuff, right? Giles, you know this has nothing to do with 'the forces inside of me'." She mimicked again.
"Althenea didn't say that."
"Yes, she did. But you probably weren't listening. Just watching, being a watcher and everything." She looked away from him, now, "I'm nuts."
Giles brushed a tear from her cheek, "You're not nuts, Willow. I promise you, you're getting better. Miss Harkness agrees."
"Okay." Willow smiled sadly before asking, "Giles, what time is it?"
Glancing at his watch, Giles replied, "Three forty-five." Upon seeing Willow's surprised face, he asked, "How long did it last?"
"Last time I can remember checking the time, it was three seventeen, so...I think about twenty-five minutes."
Giles squeezed her shoulder, "See? You're getting better. The last one lasted over an hour."
Willow smiled, "I know."
"And, Willow," Giles said, "I'm not your watcher. I'm not paid to care about you. I care about you because you deserve to be cared about."
"But Buffy…"
"I care about Buffy, too. I care about all of you, but the others don't need me right now. You do. I just want you to stop acting like taking care of you is my...my obligation. I want you to get better, too, Willow."
"Okay." Willow conceded in a small voice.
"I had just been coming to tell you that Miss Harkness wants to meet with you in about half an hour. Do you... Do you want me to tell her about what happened?"
"No." Willow resolved, "I'll tell her. I think she wants that."
