Giles Takes to His Bed
"Get out!" Snyder made a dramatic out-flung arm gesture toward the library door.
Buffy, Xander and Willow looked at him. Then Buffy said, "What?"
"Get out. I'm locking this place. If there isn't an adult to watch you every minute, who knows you'd be up to."
"Unsupervised reading?" Xander asked.
"Not likely, Harris. You'd be eating in here, or playing music. Loud music. You'd turn this place into a zoo. Go on, out!"
"But Giles, Mr. Giles, he'll be here soon," Buffy said.
"No he won't. He called in sick." Snyder had gotten behind the others and began crowding them toward the door. Once he got them in the corridor, he locked the door with a satisfied look on his face. "There, one less place for delinquents to hide in." Turning to the others he said, "Still here? If you don't have classes, go to study hall."
"But school hasn't really started yet. I mean, it's early," Willow said. "We were just stopping by to say hello to Mr. Giles."
"Well, go someplace and sit down and be quiet," Snyder said as he strode off. "I don't care where as long as you're quiet."
"We should have asked him what was wrong with Giles," Buffy said. "Something might be happening. He could be in trouble."
Xander shook his head. "C'mon, Buff. Would you call Snyder if you had 'demon trouble'? Giles probably is, you know, just sick. Most likely caught a bug from the old books. I always said they were death traps."
"But, who's going to take care of him? Make him toast and tea and stuff?" Willow said in an anxious voice.
"We'll go over to his place after school and see if there's anything he needs," Buffy said.
The bell for first class rang just then and the trio went on their way to be educated. After classes had finished for the day, they reconvened. "Let's go," said Buffy. "I have a bad feeling about this. I tried calling after lunch and Giles never answered his phone. Is Cordelia coming?" she asked Xander.
"Nah, I said something about Giles being sick and she put on her eww! face and said she'd see us tomorrow. And not to bring any germs back with us."
When they arrived at Giles' door they knocked and knocked with no answer. After exchanging glances with the others, Buffy took a step back, raised her foot and was just about to land a door-flattening blow when the lock turned and the door eased open.
The face that peered out at them wasn't the Giles they were used to seeing. He was even paler than usual; his eyes were half-shut and outlined in red. "Yes?" he said. The effort seemed to exhaust him and he bent his head to lean on the door. The other three all started talking; Giles turned and moved away, leaving the door open behind him.
They followed him in and Buffy said, "We came to see if you were all right."
"Sick," said Giles. He'd enveloped himself in a large comforter to get up for the door. As he sat down on the couch he attempted to untangle himself from his wrapping but then he began a series of lung-wrenching coughs and just gave up the struggle and lay down. He did a one hand pick-up of a blanket from the floor and feebly threw it over himself. "I'm ill," he said.
"We're getting that," Xander said.
"Oh, Giles, shouldn't you be in bed?" Willow said, "Wouldn't it be more comfortable than the couch?"
"This is more convenient." His voice had faded by the end of the sentence so that they barely heard the last word.
Willow went on, "It's okay; we're here to help you. I can make you toast and tea. My mom used to make for me when I got sick."
"My mother used to cut the toast into strips. She called them 'little soldiers'". Giles said, his eyes closed.
"And soft boiled eggs and ginger ale is good," Willow was talking to herself as she wrote on a pad of paper she'd taken from her school bag.
"Will's mom probably called them 'Workers marching for a Socialist State'," said Xander. If he was hoping to get a smile out of Giles, it didn't happen. Giles' head had sunk back deep into his pillow and his forehead had a sheen of sweat on it. Suddenly, in a blur of pajamas he was off the couch and bolting for the bathroom. The others listened as he vomited into the toilet. Both girls stepped gingerly backward, colliding in their efforts to put the other room out of their sightline. They couldn't escape hearing the flush afterwards or Giles rinsing and spitting.
Xander was near the front door. Buffy noticed him grabbing the door handle and said, "What are you doing?"
"Whenever somebody barfs near me, I feel like doing it, too. I'm going to need some fresh air."
"You're not leaving." Buffy fixed the steely look she usually reserved for combative vampires on him.
"No, no, just deep breaths," he said. He demonstrated.
Giles had come back into the living room and lay down again. He said, "Sorry, should have closed the door. No time." He poked his hand out from the covers and waved it about. "Convenient."
Buffy went over to him and said, "Can we get you anything?"
"Thirsty," he said. "Cold."
She moved toward the kitchen, saying to Xander, "You could turn on his fireplace. You know how the gas works? We don't want to asphyxiate him."
"I'm on it."
"I'll get some more blankets from upstairs," Willow said.
When Buffy came back with a glass of water, she said to Giles, "You should see a doctor."
After Giles had taken a few gulps from the glass he said, his voice faint but his tone scornful, "Doctor? He'll tell me I have the flu. I know I have the flu."
"Okay. Well, we get you stuff from the store. Juice and things. Rest. We'll be back soon."
Xander said, "I turned the fire on, not too high. But you'll be warm enough soon to pretend you're a marshmallow, toasty on the outside and melty..."
"Xander!" Buffy gave him a warning look, "No food talk." She nodded toward the bathroom.
"Oh, yeah."
Buffy went to the desk and opened the top drawer. "Giles, I'm taking the extra set of keys so you don't have to get up when we come back." There was small murmur of acknowledgement from the couch.
She and the others gathered their books and bags and left, waiting until they were outside before saying anything else. Then they all started talking at once.
"I'll have to ask Mom what you give somebody with the flu..."\
"Maybe I could make up a special tea for him, with herbs; there must be something in my books..."
"Man, he was in bad shape...hey, I guess that means we won't have to do any research until..."
"Okay, okay," Buffy's voice was the strongest and the others stopped to listen. "We'll go to the store and maybe we should think about staying with Giles, at least some of the time, 'til he gets better. And just sort of tidy up the place."
All three of them had a sudden mental picture of Giles' bathroom.
"I mean, like pick up the tissues he's throwing on the floor."
"Poor sick slob," said Xander. "But sure, I'm up for Giles Watch. Ha, watching the Watcher."
"Absolutely," Willow agreed.
At the grocery store, the gang picked up quarts of juice, cans of chicken soup and boxes of tissues. They huddled together at the over-the-counter medicine shelves deciding on what to get. "Giles probably already has aspirin. He gets hit on the head a lot," said Buffy. "I hardly ever got sick, so I'm not sure what's good for what." She wore a perplexed look as she stared at the long shelf of flu and cold medicines.
"Allow me," said Xander. He scanned the shelf and plucked up a bottle. "This is what you want. It'll knock him out like a truckload of encyclopedias fell on him. Sleep, the best thing when you're sick. Take two bottles."
They went back to Giles' place bearing bags of nostrums and supplies. He was sleeping when they arrived. The majority of his blankets were pushed down near his knees. Willow rearranged the coverings on the sick man. He opened his eyes briefly but didn't seem to see her, just sighed and went back to sleep. She smoothed down his matted hair which was dried sweat stiff and standing straight up. The others arranged a couch side table with a juice glass, fresh tissues, and a bottle of flu medicine beside a large spoon. They also gathered up the used tissues from the floor. Buffy's nose crinkled in distaste and she whispered, "I don't know how Florence Nightingale did it."
They left the apartment quietly, practically tip-toeing. Outside, Buffy said it was one quick tour of the graveyard and it was home for her. She and the two others agreed to meet up at school the next day.
In the morning, before classes, they made a plan. Buffy would cut final class, since Mrs. O'Brien never took roll anyway and Willow could hand in her homework for her and instead go to Giles' to see how he was.
When Buffy arrived at her Watcher's apartment, she used her key to get in, opening the door slowly and calling his name. All the window blinds were down and closed; the air in the room was stale and overly warm. Buffy went over to the couch. Giles was awake; his blankets were pulled up to just below his chin.
"How are you?" she said.
"Hmmmm."
"Mom said I should take your temperature." She dug inside her purse, then pulled out a thermometer. "I never read these things right," she said, pulling off its covering. "Open your mouth."
He made a waving away motion with his arm. "No. I'm hot. I'm thirsty. I need something cold."
"Well, if you're hot, take some blankets off." Buffy reached for the top one and peeled it back.
"Thirsty."
"I'll get you something cool."
Buffy came back with orange juice with ice cubes in it. Giles struggled up to a sitting position, grasped the glass in two hands and drank half of it without stopping. "Good," he said. He motioned to Buffy to take the glass and then slid back down on the couch.
Buffy sat on the couch arm near Giles' feet. She said, "Would you like my mom to stop by? She's good at this sick stuff."
"God, no," Giles said. He seemed startled. In a moment he added in a more normal voice, "That's kind of her, but I just have to wait this out."
"Okay, Chicken soup? Tea? "
He shook his head, grimaced, said, "No." They sat in silence for a moment then Giles said, "I have to go to the toilet."
"What?" Buffy jumped up from her perch. "What? Like you have to throw up?"
"No, for the usual thing." Giles slid his legs off the couch and sat upright. He steadied himself, both hands splayed out on either side. Buffy watched him begin to push himself up and then stop. He held out his hand to her. "I get dizzy when I stand."
She came next to him and let him grab hold of her arm. His hand felt dry and very warm on her skin. They walked slowly and when they were two or three feet from the bathroom Giles said, "I can handle the rest of it. Thank you."
Buffy was uncertain what to do once he closed the door behind him. She didn't want to iloiter/i. She drifted over to his desk and in an absentminded way began straightening things. She found his glasses. She hadn't seen him wear them in days. She plucked a tissue from one of the several sitting open around the room and began to polish the lenses. She breathed heavily on each lens to mist it and rubbed and rubbed. She lay the glasses down only when she heard the door open and Giles emerged from the bathroom. He shuffled back to the couch, murmuring that he was fine when she went to help him.
Once he was settled she said, "Take the medicine; it'll help you to rest. I've got to go. The others will be here later, and if I get a chance I come back after patrolling."
"I feel so useless." Giles said, "And tired, and uncomfortable."
"Do you want anything? To eat? "
"Just turn the radio on before you go. Quietly. It's on the correct station."
Buffy did that and there was some negotiation as Giles complained it was too loud and then too soft. "Okay, cranky guy, I'll see you later. Get better, 'cause this is a strain on everybody," Buffy said as she left the apartment.
She returned much later that night. Giles was alone. "Where's Willow and Xander?" she asked.
"They chattered. On and on. It was like being in a room full of parakeets. I sent them home." Giles had been lying down but he sat up when Buffy came in, his legs still stretched out on the couch cushions. "Did you patrol? Anything I should know about?"
Buffy launched into a blow-by-blow account of the evening's encounter with two vampires. Two or three minutes into the story—she'd dusted one and the other was hide and seeking among the headstones—she saw that Giles was listening with his eyes closed. He'd also had listed to one side.
"Okay, enough for tonight. I see you late tomorrow. I kinda promised my mom I'd make an appearance at the dinner table."
"Tomorrow, then," Giles sighed as he slipped down into a supine position.
The next day at school when the Scoobies met up Buffy asked what happened at Giles'. "The man doesn't have a television," Xander explained, "I was trying to entertain him..."
"He was pretty restless," interjected Willow.
"Yeah, so I was telling him about Star Trek. I was doing that thing there always telling us to do in English class." He looked at Willow.
"Compare and contrast."
"Yeah, I was comparing and contrasting various Captains. And he threw us out. Tough crowd. But at least he didn't upchuck while we were there."
They were standing near Buffy's locker. Closing it up she said, "I don't think he's holding a grudge. Are you going over there today? I can't make it until late, after patrolling."
"Maybe I should go with you." Xander said. "Vampires aren't as bad-tempered as sick Watchers."
Willow rolled her eyes at him. "We're going. I've got an idea to calm him down and help pass the time."
"What?" the other two said.
"You'll see."
The scene Buffy came into late that night was serene and domestic. Giles was still on the couch, but he was sitting with his back against one of its arms and very alert-looking. Willow was in an arm chair, in a pool of light from a floor lamp; on her lap was a hard cover book. "Hi," she greeted Buffy, "I'm reading a story to Giles.'Lord of the Rings'. Giles was going through his rebellious period when it was popular, so he never read it. The good guys fight evil and win. I thought he'd like that."
Giles said, smiling at Buffy, "I'm a captive audience, too. But it really is rather enjoyable."
Buffy looked around the room and said to Willow, "No Xander?"
In response, Willow looked down at the space between the couch and the fireplace. Buffy walked around the couch end and saw Xander stretched out with his arms under his head, fast asleep. She nudged his foot, the second time emphatically. Xander's eyes opened and he sat upright. He blinked at Buffy, "You here? Are we going home?"
Giles said, "Move, Xander." After the boy had stood up, Giles swung his legs over and said, "I think I would like to sleep in my own bed tonight. If you would stay to see that I don't tumble down the stairs on my way up. I'd be grateful."
Buffy said, "You must be getting better; you're talking in whole sentences."
Giles refused any of the proffered helping hands and rose on his own and tottered to the staircase. He mounted the stairs slowly, the others watching, not realizing that they were all holding their breaths until he reached the next floor. "Success," he said, giving a small wave. He made it to the bed and sat, saying in a stronger voice, "Thank you."
"Okay, I guess our work here is done," said Xander. Calling up he said, "See you tomorrow, Giles."
When they did come back the next day, they encountered Giles not cocooned on his couch, but sitting in his apartment complex's courtyard at a table placed in the sunlight. The others sat down around it and Buffy said, "I guess this means you're feeling better?"
"Yes, I woke feeling rather energetic, at least in comparison with the last week. I showered and fixed some breakfast. Of course, that exhausted me and I napped in a chair for a while. But the sunshine looked quite inviting; I can see its appeal under these circumstances."
Xander said, "That showering was a good idea, Giles, because you were getting a little ripe. Rank, even."
"Thank you, Xander, for bringing that up."
Xander smiled and said, "Okay, the world is beginning to right itself. The old Giles voice is back, dry and a little look-downish."
"I'll bet it was that herb tea I gave you yesterday," Willow said. "I tried attaching a wellness spell to it."
"Willow," Giles looked at her in concern, "you have to careful interfering with natural events, the flu..."
Buffy interrupted, "Are you sure you should be outside, yet? You could get sick again. I can't deal with you not being all Watchery."
"People get ill, Buffy," Giles using a soft inflection to his words, "it's nothing to be overly concerned about."
"Well, I think we all have enough to worry about, without scary microbes, or viruses, or whatever."
"I'll be back in the library on Monday. We'll recommence your training. Everything will fall into our pattern again."
"Vampires, beware!" Xander said a little too loudly.
And so they sat in the sun and chatted and in a few days things iwere/i back to normal.