Disclaimer: All I want for xmas is to own these characters and be rich, please? Damn, not mine!
Feedback: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!
Authors note: This is looking at the strange relationship between Giles and Buffy, (No I'm not trying to get them together! Euw!) There's a storyline about vampires thrown in there but it's quite weak the main thing Is Buffy and Giles relationship and what happens when he goes away, so concentrate on that and please don't kill me!
PS Have you noticed there are hardly any vampires in Buffy anymore? (Apart from Spike) That's not right!
PPS: Sorry if the story jerks around a bit!
Buffy was mad, and when Buffy was mad everyone knew about it.
"Giles!" She yelled, storming into his house, she glared around, "Giles!" She
repeated. He had walked out of the kitchen with a mug in his hand,
"Buffy," He'd acknowledged, "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" She'd spat, "What's wrong? What's wrong is you sending my
boyfriend to a nearly certain death!" Giles had frowned then, he looked puzzled.
"Near certain death? What do you mean? He'd wanted something to do so I asked him
to retrieve the symbol of ksylasgrin from the crypt,"
"Yeah!" Buffy had fumed, "But you forgot to mention it was guarded by seven
demons!" Giles looked shocked then,
"Seven?" He had questioned, looking in a book. "Why the hell would there be seven
demons there."
"Don't play dumb!" Buffy hissed, "You knew there was seven demons, you've never
liked Riley have you?"
Why did she say that? Buffy wondered, why? She knew Giles could never deliberately hurt anyone, but she was so keyed up she had to yell at someone, but why did she choose Giles? The argument had continued.
Giles had sucked in his breath,
"You know I would never hurt Riley."
"Do I?" Buffy had glared, she had seen him get angry then.
"Yes you do!" He slammed a hand down on the table, "I doubt you'd notice anyway!
You're always fucking around why should Riley be any different?" He'd looked
shocked then, as if he couldn't believe what he was saying,
"Buffy, I'm..."
"Oh so Olivia your little whore is so much better is she?" Buffy had snapped, "I'm
surprised she's still alive, or don't you love her enough for her to be killed, cause
that's what happens to everyone else you love!"
She should have stopped then, she shouldn't have continued but she was so mad! Giles had just been standing there with tears in his eyes, he hadn't said a word but she just had to keep on going.
"You know what!" She had continued, "You're useless! We don't need you, why don't
you just fuck off back where you came from?" He had just stood there then with hurt
in his eyes, she almost couldn't bare to look into them. She was already regretting
what she had said but her stupid pride had stopped her. She turned around and left.
That was on the Sunday morning, and by Monday evening when she'd finally swallowed her pride and had gone to see him, he was gone. He'd left a note on the door. She pulled it out now and reread it even though she knew every word off by heart.
Dear Buffy, It said.
Following our disagreement I think it's about time I left. Don't feel bad, I've been thinking about it for some time now and although I know you didn't mean them, some of the things you said last night were true. I think you and the rest of the gang can cope perfectly well without me. If you need the books they're in a trunk in the garden, the key is in your room, I came in to say goodbye. All the best for the future, I may get in contact sometime.
Love,
Giles
That was six months ago now and they still hadn't heard a word. At first Buffy had tried to find him, she had phoned all her contacts in England including Olivia, but none of them had seen him. At one point she had tried to trace his credit card but eventually she just gave up and waited for him to contact her.
The sound of the door opening made her jerk up her head.
"Hey Buff!" Willow wondered in, "We've got class now remember?" She glanced down at Buffy and the letter in her hands and sighed. When would Buffy stop blaming herself?
"Buffy it's not your fault," She sat down on the bed and gently took the letter from Buffys' hands.
"Six months, Will!" Buffy looked at her despairingly, "Six months without a word! Anything could have happened,"
"Yeah but might it might not have, no news is good news and all that!" She grinned hopefully. Buffy sighed in exasperation,
"Okay," She knew when she was defeated, "Let's go to class!"
They left the room and walked down the corridor.
"I wish something would happen," Buffy muttered, "It's been to quiet lately, it's making me edgy." They heard a scream.
"Why did I say that?" Buffy ran down the corridor to where the screams were coming from. She pushed her way forward to a bedroom door that was lying open.
"What the hell?" She poked her head inside, there was a young women lying on her bed, Buffy went and felt for a pulse but couldn't feel anything, the women was still warm. Frowning, Buffy rolled her over.
"Oh my god!" She gasped,
"What is it?" Willow walked over, "Buffy?" Buffy looked up at her.
"This is a vampire bite." Willow frowned,
"Are you sure?" Buffy looked at her, "Okay you're sure, well maybe she wasn't the one we heard screaming." Buffy shook her head,
"It was her all right, she's only just been killed." Willow didn't look sure.
"At ten o'clock in the morning?" Buffy got up and had a look round,
"Look Will," She pointed out, "The window's broken, that's where whoever it was got out."
"Well then it couldn't be a vamp!" Willow exclaimed
"I don't know what it is," Buffy admitted, "I'm going to go look through the books, see if I can find anything, you coming?" Willow looked uncomfortable,
"Well I'd like to but, um, I kind of promised Tara I'd meet her, you know!"
"Sure," Buffy sighed, "Go meet her!" Willow grinned,
"Okay! See you later!"
"Will!" Buffy called, but it was too late. She groaned and slammed her hand into the wall out of sheer frustration. Everyone was leaving her lately, first Giles takes off on some mid-life-crisis or whatever because of one stupid argument and then Willow spends all of her waking moments with Tara. God, she hated Tara, she thought bitterly, well no, she didn't hate her she just wished Tara would share Willow sometimes. Xander and Anya were just plain annoying, if they weren't having sex which was very often, they were arguing. Buffy hadn't spoken to them in over a week, and now she had to go do the book research by herself.
"I wish Giles was still here," She muttered as she stalked out the door.
Buffy slammed down the book onto the table. She had been sitting here for 2 hours and she still hadn't found a thing.
"This is getting annoying," She muttered. She stood up and paced the room, how the hell were you supposed to find something about a demon that bites like a vampire that can go around during the day? It couldn't be that ring she sent angel, there was only one and he destroyed it. So what the fuck was going on? She didn't know how Giles managed to find what he was looking for in these books, god knows she couldn't. She stretched and looked at the clock. 8 o'clock, she couldn't believe it was so late. Trust her to have loads of classes on the day she had to do research. Well she'd get up now, and go patrolling. She'd leave a note for Willow, although sometimes Willow stayed over Taras for the night. Buffy went cold, what if Willow was planning to move in with Tara? She stayed over there often enough? Buffy was shocked to feel tears running down her face. Everyone was leaving her! She hadn't seen her mum for a month, Riley was busy 24/7, they were drifting She was surprised at herself. There better be a lot of vampires around tonight, she decided grimly. There was. As Buffy patrolled she fought with and killed 15 vampires.
"What the hell?" She thought to herself, she hadn't seen one Vampire in over a month and now they were all over the place. She was worn out now and desperately hoped that there weren't going to be any more. She decided that the sun was coming up now and that would finish off any she had missed if they were going to try something. She stumbled back to her room and collapsed in a heap on the bed, barely noticing that Willows bed hadn't been slept in.
The alarm went off the next morning, Buffy groaned and rolled over, she picked up the alarm and flung it against the wall, narrowly missing Willows head as she walked into the room.
"Hey Buffy!" Willow approached her tentatively, Buffy had been known to punch people who tried to wake her up. "Getting up?" Buffy looked at Willow bleary eyed.
"Can you tell the professors that I'm ill," she asked.
"Why?" Willow looked concerned, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Buffy fell out of bed, "I just really need to research. There's something going on and we don't have Giles to do it for us anymore."
"Well," Willow grinned, "I'll help! We could get Xander and Anya round aswell, and Tara ," Buffy winced, she didn't want those people here but she didn't have much choice, it would help the time go quicker, she stood up,
"Okay," She agreed, "We can go to Giles house, he might have some more books that he forgot to give us before he left."
"We don't have a key," Willow pointed out.
"Since when did that stop me?" Buffy grinned.
It was weird being back in Giles house with everyone again, it didn't look like Giles house much though. It was covered in cobwebs and dusty, and it was cold and unwelcoming. It was almost like old times as they sat around and pored over the books. But Buffys glance kept straying towards the empty chair where Giles used to sit. Xander and Anya were sitting next to each other both fighting the urge to pack it in and rush to the bedroom. She slammed a book down and made them all jump.
"What is it?" Xander asked, "Have you found something?" He looked like he wanted her to say yes.
"No," She said shortly, "It's nearly dark, I'd better go patrol,"
"We'll stay here and keep working on it," Willow said, looking at Tara,
"We will?" Xander asked, Willow kicked him, "I mean yes! Of course we will!" Buffy nodded wearily,
"Sure, whatever."
She headed out the door which was now hanging off it's hinges thanks to a rather over zealous kick from her earlier. She was pissed. She wondered over to the resident graveyard and waited for something to fight. While she was waiting she heard a laugh, she hid behind a bush and peered out towards a laughing couple over the other side of the road. Her eyes narrowed as she recognised the man.
"Riley!" She hissed, she watched as Riley and the girl he was with walked into the bar. She spun round, her breaths coming quickly she clenched her fists and tried to hold back the tears, her attention was suddenly distracted by a man sitting on a bench with his back to her. He was holding a cigarette in one hand and a big canvas bag in the other. She frowned and checked her watch, what kind of man sat on a bench at midnight? She'd better check it out. He'd better start praying if he was a demon, she was not in a good mood. Another sound behind her made her whirl round, there were three vampires, two of them were approaching her and the third was just watching.
She grinned, this was just what she needed. She immediately started laying into the two vampires, but after a while she started to get worried. She was having trouble staking these vampires, and the third one hadn't even started to fight yet. As she thought this the two vampires came for her, she quickly ducked and more by luck than skill she managed to stake one of the vampires who quickly turned to a thick intoxicating dust that filled her lungs and blurred her eyes. Choking she tried to rub the dust out of her eyes and see where the other two had gone. She felt something slam into her and she went flying back over the bench she landed on her back and her stake went spinning away, the vampire leapt over the bench and landed on top of her, it put it's hands round her neck and grinned, she struggled, something was wrong all her strength was being zapped, she desperately tried to move. The vampire hissed and tightened it's grip, then it turned to dust. Buffy collapsed on the floor and gasped, waiting for her slayer healing powers to kick in. The man on the bench put down his stake and offered her a hand.
"Hello Buffy," He said softly. Buffy grabbed his hand and squinted at the face that was before her, her face cleared with recognition and she grinned
"Giles!" She yelled, springing up and flinging her arms around him nearly knocking him off balance.
"Buffy...neck...can't breathe," He gasped, Buffy loosened her grip and pulled away, then she slapped him
"What was that for," He asked rubbing his cheek.
"That was for going away and not telling us where." He looked at her,
"Sorry about that," He took a drag on his cigarette and then stamped it out on the ground and picked up his bag. Buffy looked at him.
"I didn't know you smoked," She said, frowning.
"Helps me relax." Giles had lost some of his very British accent and become more like the voice he had, had when he was Ripper. He looked at the sky, "Suns coming up, come on I'll treat you to breakfast." They both walked arm in arm to a little all night cafe. They sat down and ordered while Buffy stared at Giles. He was wearing faded old jeans with a grey jumper, his hair had a few more flecks of grey but some of the lines on his face that had appeared while he was stressed had smoothed out. He had bags under his eyes but his eyes themselves were sparkling, he wasn't wearing glasses she noted. As she watched he flirted with the waitress and pulled out a battered wallet to pay for breakfast. He caught her staring at him,
"Penny for them," He grinned, reaching over to pick up his coffee, coffee not tea she noticed.
"Just you," She looked at his hands, browned by the sun clutching his mug. "You've changed."
"For better or worse?" He asked leaning forward,
"I don't know yet," She said seriously, looking into his eyes. An uncomfortable silence descended between them.
"So where have you been?" She asked, breaking the atmosphere.
"Everywhere," He replied, relieved, "everywhere I'd always wanted to go, I had a bit of money set by and doing odd jobs I've done very well, I've been to Italy, Paris. I've loved it." Buffy listened in a dumb silence to the stories he was telling her, there was a lot she didn't know about Giles she realised.
"So what are you doing back here?" She asked eventually.
"Well," He said clearing his throat, "There's something going on all over the place, everywhere I've been, there's a new breed of vampires growing and every vampire anywhere wants to be part of it. They're all emigrating to Sunnydale, I think the shits about to hit the fan." She looked hurt.
"Was that the only reason you came back?" she whispered. He reached over and took her hand and squeezed it.
"I've missed you," He promised. She felt reassured and smiled. Then they were interrupted by a shrill ringing, "Sorry!" He smiled reaching over to his back pocket. and pulled out a phone. "Hello? Sarah! Hi!" He started chatting. Buffy shook her head in amazement, there was a lot she didn't know. Giles was finishing his conversation.
"Yeah, ok, speak to you soon! Bye!" He pressed a button and turned back to Buffy,
"Sarah," He smiled, "Met her in Israel, lovely girl! Anyway, shall we walk back to my place then?"
They walked along the streets as the sun was coming up. Giles lit up a cigarette and studied the place around him.
"It's strange to be back." He admitted, stretching. "The old place again!" He yawned and Buffy noticed he'd lost weight. They got back to his house. Giles took in the broken door,
"I see you found the spare key!" He said smiling as he lifted up a pot and pulled out a key. "Never mind, I'll fix it when I'm a little less jetlagged. Buffy felt hopeful, maybe that meant he was going to stay. They walked through to the living room where Willow and Tara were lying asleep in each others arms, Xander and Anya were in the process of stripping each other but sprang apart guiltily as they walked in.
"Buffy, um..." Xander trailed off and stared at Giles with his mouth open, "The G-man! Your back!" Giles threw his bag on the couch and winced at the name.
"Xander, Anya, I see you two are still together," He pointed out wryly.
"Yes, we still have sexual intercourse," Anya said seriously.
"Anya," Giles nodded, "Haven't changed a bit." Willow stirred and manoeuvred Tara off her arm, she opened her eyes and tried to focus.
"Giles?" She murmured, Giles knelt down in front of her,
"Hi," He said softly. Willow grinned,
"Hey!" She replied and hugged him. "How's the world?" Giles chuckled,
"It's good." He stood up and looked at the books, he spotted a big black book in the corner. "You didn't look at this one did you?" He asked worriedly crossing over to it.
"We tried but we couldn't understand it," Willow propped herself on one arm. "It's in googly language," Giles looked relieved,
"Good,"
"So Giles," Buffy interrupted, "What about these vampires?" Giles ran a hand over his eyes.
"It can wait." He shrugged, "I'm tired and jet-lagged, I'll tell you tomorrow. Goodnight." He stumbled off into his bedroom.
"Come on Will," Buffy said, pulling her up. "Let's go back to dorm."
"O.k," Willow replied she was still looking dazed. "Come on Tara, seeya Xander, Anya."
They left the house and walked along in the semi-dark. After they dropped Tara off Willow turned to Buffy with a puzzled look on her face.
"I thought you'd be happy to see Giles?" She asked, Buffy looked at her and sighed.
"I am! But it's just he's changed."
"You mean he's got another life now without you," Buffy looked up sharply and then nodded,
"I guess that's it." She admitted, "I don't like it." Willow stopped and pulled Buffy towards her and gave her a hug,
"It'll be okay," she reassured, "It's going to be normal now."
The next day in the afternoon Buffy walked to Giles house, she wondered in and found it looked very empty, she started to panic.
"Giles!" She yelled, spinning round.
"What?" He came sprinting out of the bathroom just in a towel, he was soaking wet with shaving foam all over his face, Buffy looked at him and started laughing, relief making her laugh even harder until tears were running down her face.
"Women!" He grumbled wondering back into the bathroom.
Later on when Giles had more clothes on they were going over the books again, he wondered into the kitchen.
"Black," He muttered going through the cupboards, "Green, furry," He lifted the lid off a jar and smelt it, "Jesus!" He poked his head into the living room, "Coffee?" He asked. Buffy frowned.
"You drink tea." She stated,
"Not anymore," His voice came floating through, "Doesn't keep you awake!" He walked through with two steaming mugs he settled himself down and lit up a cigarette. Buffy looked at him.
"What?" He asked, then he realised. "Oh god, Buffy," There were tears in her eyes. "I can't always be the boring old English librarian, and I don't want to be." He said setting down his mug. "I know I've changed but I think that there's always going to be a bit of Ripper inside me and I'll never get rid of it, I've accepted that now." The tears were flowing now.
"Everyone's changing except me," She whispered, "Willow has Tara, Xander has Anya you have this whole new life and I'm just stuck here."
"You have Riley," He reminded her.
"Not anymore," she shook her head. She told him what she saw the other day.
"I'm sorry," He sighed, placing a hand on her arm. "I know how you feel, imagine how I felt when you and everybody started going to college! You'll find someone else and we're all going to be envious of your life, it will get better, I promise." Buffy looked up at him with a tearstained face.
"Giles, I'm sorry for what I said," He hugged her,
"I know you are." A crash brought them back to reality. Giles groaned.
"It always has to be my house doesn't it?" Some vampires ran into the living room.
"Ah, yes!" Giles turned to her, "So these are the new breed I was telling you about. They can go in daylight."
"Shit," Buffy replied. The Vampires moved towards them. Three of them went for Buffy and three of them went for Giles. Buffy started to get worried. Giles couldn't handle three vampires especially not this new type but her vampires blocked the view. She started fighting them, at first they fought back viciously but after the first one had been killed they were weaker. She finished them off quickly, concern for Giles making her more deadly than usual. She turned to Giles just in time to see him dust the last vampire without a scratch on him. He laughed at her bemused expression.
"When you're all by yourself out in the world without a slayer you learn to take care of yourself!" He said, tossing her a stake. "Right I suppose I'd better clue you in on these creatures." She nodded, "Right well..." Over the next few hours he filled her in on the Vampires. They had somehow managed to get hold of this potion that made them more deadly and able to go out in the daylight. However, Giles assured her, the results are only temporary and the vampires go back to normal and have to get more potion. Apparently that time was tonight, it was going to be tough, he told her, but then again he supposed she was used to that he grinned.
They got to the crypt about three hours early. They had been forced to let Xander and Anya come along though they weren't going to be much help. Willow was there too on the off chance that they would need a spell. Buffy was feeling happy for the first time in months. She'd missed her friend and once watcher, she thought they had a special relationship that no-one else understood, he was like her dad. But he had changed, she was sure of that and she absolutely hated it. She had watched him all day as they had been gathering all the things they'd needed. Giles had been like a different man and he'd flirted with just about anything in a skirt, Xander and Willow had noticed a change too but it didn't affect them the way it affected her. She began to see what he must have been like in his Ripper days. Then she started wondering how long he had wanted to break free from her, his watcher duties, had the relationship she thought they'd had all been in her mind?
Giles looked at Buffy he wished she knew how much this was killing him, he was trying to distance himself from her so it wouldn't hurt her too much when he left again. He didn't want to leave but he knew it was best. He'd done his bit and now it was time for him to go. He'd been all over the place the last few months and he'd wanted to tell her where he was but he couldn't get emotionally attached again. She had a father and it was stupid of him to try and replace him, Joyce had told him as much in the letter she had sent him. He mustn't, whatever he did let himself fall into that role again. As much as I want to, he thought despairingly. He wanted to be her father but he couldn't he knew that, he couldn't. God he needed a fag.
Buffy froze,
"What is it?" Willow asked
"Shhh!" Buffy hissed, "I hear something," As they listened they heard singing coming down towards them,
"This is my island in the sun, where something, something, sod it!" The voice sounded very drunk. Buffy groaned,
"Spike!" Spike fell into view,
"Hey slayer!" He grinned, swaying softly, "Join the party! Tequila?" He brandished a bottle in front of them,
"What are you doing here?" Giles asked,
"Hey Ripper!" Spike tottered towards him, "You're back, been hearing some great stories about you on your travels! Have you told them the one with the wall of china, the vodka and the underwear?" He looked at Buffy, "Believe me it's so funny!" Giles went red and Spike tried to turn round,
"So what're you doing?" He asked before tripping over his legs, he slammed on the floor and started laughing hysterically.
"Spike, why are you here," Buffy asked, she wasn't laughing.
"Came to get me some potion," Spike replied, giggling, "Great stuff, Look I've got a tan!" He pulled up his sleeves to show his bright red skin.
"Great (!)" Buffy groaned, all she needed. Spike stood up.
"So where do I start?" Giles came up behind him and punched him, Spike fell to the floor with a thud and immediately started snoring.
"He hasn't changed," Giles grinned, picking up the tequila bottle from the floor and taking a long swig,
"No but you have," Buffy thought bitterly, they lay and waited, and waited and waited.
By the time the vampires started arriving Willow was asleep and Giles had managed to consume nearly the whole bottle of tequila and was just starting to see the world through rose tinted glasses, he'd also managed to smoke nearly a whole packet of fags to Buffys disgust, she was starting to wish he hadn't come back. Giles could sense how she felt and wished not for the first time that it could be different. At least the alcohol was starting to kick in and numb the pain.
They could see the vampires trickling through the big doors at the front of the building, Giles gently shook Willow and unceremoniously dumped a gagged spike in a corner. They watched as the vampires formed a huge circle around a cauldron bubbling with a thick red potion that looked like blood.
"Spike is going to be so pissed he missed this," Giles hissed out the side of his mouth, trying to lighten the atmosphere, Willow, Xander and Anya were looking in shock at the amount of vampires below them.
"So," Buffy whispered, "now what?" Giles looked at her,
"Well the initial plan was to destroy the potion but I didn't bank on there being so many vampires."
"Well what was plan B?" Giles looked helpless,
"I guess I'll have to call him, I hope he's in a good mood!" Buffy frowned
"Who?" Giles wasn't listening, he started talking in another language. Willow crept up next to Buffy.
"What's he doing?" She asked, Buffy just shook her head. Smoke started to billow around Giles and Willow had to hold Buffy back. Then the smoke cleared and they saw Giles standing next to a cloaked figure. Giles was choking.
"Bloody hell!" He exclaimed waving his arms about, "What the fucks with the smoke?" The cloaked figure shrugged.
"Sorry Ripper, I thought it was effective!" Giles rolled his eyes,
"Well you know that favour you owe me?" He asked, the figure nodded. "Well could you do something about that lot." He gestured towards the vampires, still coughing.
"That's a lot of vampires," The figure shook it's head, "I'll have a go, but you'll have to help." Giles gestured over to Willow,
"She can help you, she's a wicca, I'll go down with Buffy and co. and get ready for the ones you miss."
"The faith you have in me," The figure snapped, Willow came forward,
"What do we do?" She asked,
"Give us 5 minutes," Giles said gathering up his stuff, he kicked Xander who was in mid snog with Anya and headed downstairs. He crouched down with Buffy.
"Get ready," He whispered, Buffy glanced at him, he seemed so sure of himself. After about a minute smoke began to pour out the overhead chamber where they'd been hidden.
"Is that guy safe?" Buffy whispered to Giles,
"He better be," He replied. The smoke began to gather on the floor and swirled about them until they couldn't see a thing. Buffy could hear Giles breathing beside her and behind them she could hear Xander and Anya groping each other again. The smoke started to clear.
"Get ready," Giles hissed, "That includes you two shagging back there," She could feel rather than see Xanders embarrassment. The smoke cleared,
"Go!" Giles sprang out of the door with an energy that surprised Buffy. She glanced around, there were piles of dust all over the floor and only about 20 vampires had survived out of the hundreds that were there. The vampires started to move towards them menacingly.
"Oh shit," She heard Xander sum up the situation. Then they were fighting. For a while they seemed to be winning, even Xander had managed to stake one of them. But then more had appeared, and then more. The room was filling up again and she hadn't got a clue where they were all coming from. They were all fighting automatically now. Punch, duck, kick, stake, she was tired and she couldn't even begin to imagine how the others felt. Giles had blood running down his face and looked exhausted. That's when the thing arrived, it rose up on a chair at the side of the room. She heard Xander stop.
"That is a big vampire!" He said in an awed whisper, "That is like the godfather of vampires!" And she had to admit he was right. This vampire was 8 feet tall, it's teeth were all 10 inches long and they were black, it's eyes were red. Giles froze beside her and all the other vampires dropped back.
"Oh god!" Giles gasped, The vampire leered.
"Ripper," The vampires came and grabbed Buffy, Xander and Anya with about 10 vampires guarding each of them. Leaving Giles standing in the middle of the room.
"It's been a long time," The head vampire hissed. "I remember last time I saw you!" He continued, Giles held his ground. "It looked quite a bit like this didn't it, except you ran didn't you! You left those people that you loved and ran!" Giles went pale and tried to hold back the hurt in his eyes.
"That was a long time ago," He warned.
"Yes but have things changed?" The vampire leaned forward and glared at him, "You were a coward then and you're a coward now!" As if to illustrate his point one of the vampires hit Xander round the head and he fell to his knees with a thud. Out of the corner of his eye Giles could see them dragging Willow out of her hiding place.
Giles didn't say anything, but he glanced towards the big cauldron of potion and smiled to himself. The vampire holding Buffy suddenly twisted her arm back and she cried out in pain. Giles glanced sharply at her with concern in his eyes.
"Can you do it?" The voice of Ripper whispered in his head. Giles grinned, he held out a hand towards the vampire sitting in the chair. He started to whisper.
"Dulche Venporem sasquex," He repeated these words over and over until a ball of light began to form in the palm of his hand. Then an energy ball left his hand and struck the vampire right between the eyes. The vampire cried out in pain, clawing at his face. Giles moved quickly, he ran towards the cauldron with the bubbling red liquid inside. His breath tore from him as he struggled through the spell that had been put upon it. The head vampire bawled an order to the other vampires holding onto Buffy and her friends. They immediately dropped them and sprinted over to Giles who was still battling his way towards to cauldron. Buffy didn't know what the hell was going on but she knew that whatever Giles was doing they didn't like it. She sprang up and tried to stop the vampires from reaching him. Giles finally reached the cauldron, he touched it and cried out in pain when it burned him. He glanced round and saw everyone he cared about fighting for their lives. His face became determined, He grabbed the cauldron trying not to register the intense pain that jolted through his body. Slowly he started to lift it, the pain was getting worse, little white lights were flashing before his eyes, he could smell burning flesh.
"Shit!" He let out an anguished cry, Buffy started towards him feeling his pain. He was gasping still trying to raise the cauldron, he tipped it over so it shattered on the floor below him. He snatched back his hands gasping in pain and looked towards where the head vampire was writhing in his chair.
"That was for all those people I loved!" He gasped the vampire screamed and exploded, dust flew in the air. A dark shadow came at him and screamed at him. Giles stood his ground and stared it in the eyes.
"I'm not afraid," He said quietly, "You killed the people I loved once, I won't let you do it again." He slowly stepped in front of Buffy where she was lying on the floor, surrounded by the thick choking dust. Black clouds swirled around him. He stared the thing before him in the eyes again.
"I'm not afraid," He said again. The red eyes swirled in front of him and the mouth opened wide, ready to engulf him, he closed his eyes and waited for death. Buffy was sobbing. The shadow tried to reach him but cried out in pain. It tried again, but then it started to go backwards into a white light.
"RIPPER!" It screamed one last time, then it was gone. Giles looked up and blinked, there was a cloaked figure standing before him.
"Now you're in my debt!" The figure told him. Giles smiled at him.
"Thank you, thank you!" He whispered gratefully. The figure nodded and turned away disappearing as he walked. Giles sank down to the floor.
"Giles?" It was Buffy, she reached over and took his hands, wincing at the sight. They had been burned by the cauldron right down to the bone in some places.
"Let's go home," She said, looking at him.
When they got back they attended to their wounds, Buffy bathed Giles hands and bandaged them, all the while telling him he should really go to the hospital. He had listened to her but he didn't reply, he knew he had to leave again. That night he let them all sleep round his place. He looked at Buffy sleeping on the sofa, he really wanted to stay and be the dad to her that she had never had. But he couldn't be, she wasn't his daughter. He sighed and picked up his bag. Then he hesitated at the door, he couldn't go again without saying goodbye.
Buffy stretched, there was someone shaking her shoulder she turned around and opened her eyes.
"Hey Giles," She yawned sleepily, "What's..." She saw the bag at his feet and looked up at him, "No!" She pleaded. He shook his head sadly.
"I can't stay," He told her, "I'm sorry, I can't"
"Why not," Her eyes demanded an answer, "Tell me!"
"I just can't..." He trailed of helplessly, "I can't..."
"Can't what!" She snapped.
"I can't stay because I can't be like your father!" He blurted out. He sat down on the edge of the couch. "Your Mother sent me a letter, and it's true, I've been trying to replace your Father," He ran his hands through his hair, "I should have left when I got fired by the council." Buffys eyes were filled with tears. Giles didn't look at her and picked up his bag, "I'm sorry, I should have never come back." Buffy watched as he walked towards the door. She felt hurt welling up inside her.
"Giles," She called, forcing him to turn round and look at her. "I wish you were my Dad." Giles eyes filled with tears when she said that and he turned around and left. Buffy rolled over and cried herself to sleep.
"Buffy, Buffy?" A voice was calling her, she opened her eyes.
"Riley," She jerked upright, "What the hell are you doing here!" Riley put a finger to her lips and gestured to the girl standing behind him. It was the same girl he'd been with the other night.
"Buffy," He said calmly, "I'd like you to meet my sister Rachel, Rachel this is Buffy." Buffy looked at him.
"This is your sister?" She started to smile, "Thank God!" She flung her arms round him and kissed him. "How did you know to come here?" She asked when she eventually resurfaced. Riley grinned.
"Mr. Giles explained to me what had happened, well actually I think his exact words were. 'get the fuck down to my house and start explaining' so I thought I'd better do as he said." Buffy felt hope surge inside her.
"Giles!" She whispered, she glanced over Rileys shoulder at the door, and saw Giles standing there with a smile on his face.
"Giles!" She yelled, she knocked over Riley and ran to the door, Giles caught her as she plummeted towards him and swung her round, laughing delightedly. They hugged as they stood on the doorstep, they shared a love that only fathers and daughters understood.
Epilogue:
Spike woke up groaning,
"Never again!" He moaned, feeling his head. "Ow," He winced as he felt his sunburned arms, then he looked again. Sunburn! He remembered.
"Yes!" He laughed, "I am invincible!" He strode over to the door and flung it open.
"Hello sun!" He shouted, then he felt a familiar sensation, he looked down at his arms. He saw smoke.
"Shit!" He yelled running quickly back inside. "Shit!" He slammed the door and got his breath back then he looked out the window.
"Bugger."
The End
Kind of weird I know, but bare with me! Next time I'll do better!
Feedback: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!
Authors note: This is looking at the strange relationship between Giles and Buffy, (No I'm not trying to get them together! Euw!) There's a storyline about vampires thrown in there but it's quite weak the main thing Is Buffy and Giles relationship and what happens when he goes away, so concentrate on that and please don't kill me!
PS Have you noticed there are hardly any vampires in Buffy anymore? (Apart from Spike) That's not right!
PPS: Sorry if the story jerks around a bit!
Buffy was mad, and when Buffy was mad everyone knew about it.
"Giles!" She yelled, storming into his house, she glared around, "Giles!" She
repeated. He had walked out of the kitchen with a mug in his hand,
"Buffy," He'd acknowledged, "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" She'd spat, "What's wrong? What's wrong is you sending my
boyfriend to a nearly certain death!" Giles had frowned then, he looked puzzled.
"Near certain death? What do you mean? He'd wanted something to do so I asked him
to retrieve the symbol of ksylasgrin from the crypt,"
"Yeah!" Buffy had fumed, "But you forgot to mention it was guarded by seven
demons!" Giles looked shocked then,
"Seven?" He had questioned, looking in a book. "Why the hell would there be seven
demons there."
"Don't play dumb!" Buffy hissed, "You knew there was seven demons, you've never
liked Riley have you?"
Why did she say that? Buffy wondered, why? She knew Giles could never deliberately hurt anyone, but she was so keyed up she had to yell at someone, but why did she choose Giles? The argument had continued.
Giles had sucked in his breath,
"You know I would never hurt Riley."
"Do I?" Buffy had glared, she had seen him get angry then.
"Yes you do!" He slammed a hand down on the table, "I doubt you'd notice anyway!
You're always fucking around why should Riley be any different?" He'd looked
shocked then, as if he couldn't believe what he was saying,
"Buffy, I'm..."
"Oh so Olivia your little whore is so much better is she?" Buffy had snapped, "I'm
surprised she's still alive, or don't you love her enough for her to be killed, cause
that's what happens to everyone else you love!"
She should have stopped then, she shouldn't have continued but she was so mad! Giles had just been standing there with tears in his eyes, he hadn't said a word but she just had to keep on going.
"You know what!" She had continued, "You're useless! We don't need you, why don't
you just fuck off back where you came from?" He had just stood there then with hurt
in his eyes, she almost couldn't bare to look into them. She was already regretting
what she had said but her stupid pride had stopped her. She turned around and left.
That was on the Sunday morning, and by Monday evening when she'd finally swallowed her pride and had gone to see him, he was gone. He'd left a note on the door. She pulled it out now and reread it even though she knew every word off by heart.
Dear Buffy, It said.
Following our disagreement I think it's about time I left. Don't feel bad, I've been thinking about it for some time now and although I know you didn't mean them, some of the things you said last night were true. I think you and the rest of the gang can cope perfectly well without me. If you need the books they're in a trunk in the garden, the key is in your room, I came in to say goodbye. All the best for the future, I may get in contact sometime.
Love,
Giles
That was six months ago now and they still hadn't heard a word. At first Buffy had tried to find him, she had phoned all her contacts in England including Olivia, but none of them had seen him. At one point she had tried to trace his credit card but eventually she just gave up and waited for him to contact her.
The sound of the door opening made her jerk up her head.
"Hey Buff!" Willow wondered in, "We've got class now remember?" She glanced down at Buffy and the letter in her hands and sighed. When would Buffy stop blaming herself?
"Buffy it's not your fault," She sat down on the bed and gently took the letter from Buffys' hands.
"Six months, Will!" Buffy looked at her despairingly, "Six months without a word! Anything could have happened,"
"Yeah but might it might not have, no news is good news and all that!" She grinned hopefully. Buffy sighed in exasperation,
"Okay," She knew when she was defeated, "Let's go to class!"
They left the room and walked down the corridor.
"I wish something would happen," Buffy muttered, "It's been to quiet lately, it's making me edgy." They heard a scream.
"Why did I say that?" Buffy ran down the corridor to where the screams were coming from. She pushed her way forward to a bedroom door that was lying open.
"What the hell?" She poked her head inside, there was a young women lying on her bed, Buffy went and felt for a pulse but couldn't feel anything, the women was still warm. Frowning, Buffy rolled her over.
"Oh my god!" She gasped,
"What is it?" Willow walked over, "Buffy?" Buffy looked up at her.
"This is a vampire bite." Willow frowned,
"Are you sure?" Buffy looked at her, "Okay you're sure, well maybe she wasn't the one we heard screaming." Buffy shook her head,
"It was her all right, she's only just been killed." Willow didn't look sure.
"At ten o'clock in the morning?" Buffy got up and had a look round,
"Look Will," She pointed out, "The window's broken, that's where whoever it was got out."
"Well then it couldn't be a vamp!" Willow exclaimed
"I don't know what it is," Buffy admitted, "I'm going to go look through the books, see if I can find anything, you coming?" Willow looked uncomfortable,
"Well I'd like to but, um, I kind of promised Tara I'd meet her, you know!"
"Sure," Buffy sighed, "Go meet her!" Willow grinned,
"Okay! See you later!"
"Will!" Buffy called, but it was too late. She groaned and slammed her hand into the wall out of sheer frustration. Everyone was leaving her lately, first Giles takes off on some mid-life-crisis or whatever because of one stupid argument and then Willow spends all of her waking moments with Tara. God, she hated Tara, she thought bitterly, well no, she didn't hate her she just wished Tara would share Willow sometimes. Xander and Anya were just plain annoying, if they weren't having sex which was very often, they were arguing. Buffy hadn't spoken to them in over a week, and now she had to go do the book research by herself.
"I wish Giles was still here," She muttered as she stalked out the door.
Buffy slammed down the book onto the table. She had been sitting here for 2 hours and she still hadn't found a thing.
"This is getting annoying," She muttered. She stood up and paced the room, how the hell were you supposed to find something about a demon that bites like a vampire that can go around during the day? It couldn't be that ring she sent angel, there was only one and he destroyed it. So what the fuck was going on? She didn't know how Giles managed to find what he was looking for in these books, god knows she couldn't. She stretched and looked at the clock. 8 o'clock, she couldn't believe it was so late. Trust her to have loads of classes on the day she had to do research. Well she'd get up now, and go patrolling. She'd leave a note for Willow, although sometimes Willow stayed over Taras for the night. Buffy went cold, what if Willow was planning to move in with Tara? She stayed over there often enough? Buffy was shocked to feel tears running down her face. Everyone was leaving her! She hadn't seen her mum for a month, Riley was busy 24/7, they were drifting She was surprised at herself. There better be a lot of vampires around tonight, she decided grimly. There was. As Buffy patrolled she fought with and killed 15 vampires.
"What the hell?" She thought to herself, she hadn't seen one Vampire in over a month and now they were all over the place. She was worn out now and desperately hoped that there weren't going to be any more. She decided that the sun was coming up now and that would finish off any she had missed if they were going to try something. She stumbled back to her room and collapsed in a heap on the bed, barely noticing that Willows bed hadn't been slept in.
The alarm went off the next morning, Buffy groaned and rolled over, she picked up the alarm and flung it against the wall, narrowly missing Willows head as she walked into the room.
"Hey Buffy!" Willow approached her tentatively, Buffy had been known to punch people who tried to wake her up. "Getting up?" Buffy looked at Willow bleary eyed.
"Can you tell the professors that I'm ill," she asked.
"Why?" Willow looked concerned, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Buffy fell out of bed, "I just really need to research. There's something going on and we don't have Giles to do it for us anymore."
"Well," Willow grinned, "I'll help! We could get Xander and Anya round aswell, and Tara ," Buffy winced, she didn't want those people here but she didn't have much choice, it would help the time go quicker, she stood up,
"Okay," She agreed, "We can go to Giles house, he might have some more books that he forgot to give us before he left."
"We don't have a key," Willow pointed out.
"Since when did that stop me?" Buffy grinned.
It was weird being back in Giles house with everyone again, it didn't look like Giles house much though. It was covered in cobwebs and dusty, and it was cold and unwelcoming. It was almost like old times as they sat around and pored over the books. But Buffys glance kept straying towards the empty chair where Giles used to sit. Xander and Anya were sitting next to each other both fighting the urge to pack it in and rush to the bedroom. She slammed a book down and made them all jump.
"What is it?" Xander asked, "Have you found something?" He looked like he wanted her to say yes.
"No," She said shortly, "It's nearly dark, I'd better go patrol,"
"We'll stay here and keep working on it," Willow said, looking at Tara,
"We will?" Xander asked, Willow kicked him, "I mean yes! Of course we will!" Buffy nodded wearily,
"Sure, whatever."
She headed out the door which was now hanging off it's hinges thanks to a rather over zealous kick from her earlier. She was pissed. She wondered over to the resident graveyard and waited for something to fight. While she was waiting she heard a laugh, she hid behind a bush and peered out towards a laughing couple over the other side of the road. Her eyes narrowed as she recognised the man.
"Riley!" She hissed, she watched as Riley and the girl he was with walked into the bar. She spun round, her breaths coming quickly she clenched her fists and tried to hold back the tears, her attention was suddenly distracted by a man sitting on a bench with his back to her. He was holding a cigarette in one hand and a big canvas bag in the other. She frowned and checked her watch, what kind of man sat on a bench at midnight? She'd better check it out. He'd better start praying if he was a demon, she was not in a good mood. Another sound behind her made her whirl round, there were three vampires, two of them were approaching her and the third was just watching.
She grinned, this was just what she needed. She immediately started laying into the two vampires, but after a while she started to get worried. She was having trouble staking these vampires, and the third one hadn't even started to fight yet. As she thought this the two vampires came for her, she quickly ducked and more by luck than skill she managed to stake one of the vampires who quickly turned to a thick intoxicating dust that filled her lungs and blurred her eyes. Choking she tried to rub the dust out of her eyes and see where the other two had gone. She felt something slam into her and she went flying back over the bench she landed on her back and her stake went spinning away, the vampire leapt over the bench and landed on top of her, it put it's hands round her neck and grinned, she struggled, something was wrong all her strength was being zapped, she desperately tried to move. The vampire hissed and tightened it's grip, then it turned to dust. Buffy collapsed on the floor and gasped, waiting for her slayer healing powers to kick in. The man on the bench put down his stake and offered her a hand.
"Hello Buffy," He said softly. Buffy grabbed his hand and squinted at the face that was before her, her face cleared with recognition and she grinned
"Giles!" She yelled, springing up and flinging her arms around him nearly knocking him off balance.
"Buffy...neck...can't breathe," He gasped, Buffy loosened her grip and pulled away, then she slapped him
"What was that for," He asked rubbing his cheek.
"That was for going away and not telling us where." He looked at her,
"Sorry about that," He took a drag on his cigarette and then stamped it out on the ground and picked up his bag. Buffy looked at him.
"I didn't know you smoked," She said, frowning.
"Helps me relax." Giles had lost some of his very British accent and become more like the voice he had, had when he was Ripper. He looked at the sky, "Suns coming up, come on I'll treat you to breakfast." They both walked arm in arm to a little all night cafe. They sat down and ordered while Buffy stared at Giles. He was wearing faded old jeans with a grey jumper, his hair had a few more flecks of grey but some of the lines on his face that had appeared while he was stressed had smoothed out. He had bags under his eyes but his eyes themselves were sparkling, he wasn't wearing glasses she noted. As she watched he flirted with the waitress and pulled out a battered wallet to pay for breakfast. He caught her staring at him,
"Penny for them," He grinned, reaching over to pick up his coffee, coffee not tea she noticed.
"Just you," She looked at his hands, browned by the sun clutching his mug. "You've changed."
"For better or worse?" He asked leaning forward,
"I don't know yet," She said seriously, looking into his eyes. An uncomfortable silence descended between them.
"So where have you been?" She asked, breaking the atmosphere.
"Everywhere," He replied, relieved, "everywhere I'd always wanted to go, I had a bit of money set by and doing odd jobs I've done very well, I've been to Italy, Paris. I've loved it." Buffy listened in a dumb silence to the stories he was telling her, there was a lot she didn't know about Giles she realised.
"So what are you doing back here?" She asked eventually.
"Well," He said clearing his throat, "There's something going on all over the place, everywhere I've been, there's a new breed of vampires growing and every vampire anywhere wants to be part of it. They're all emigrating to Sunnydale, I think the shits about to hit the fan." She looked hurt.
"Was that the only reason you came back?" she whispered. He reached over and took her hand and squeezed it.
"I've missed you," He promised. She felt reassured and smiled. Then they were interrupted by a shrill ringing, "Sorry!" He smiled reaching over to his back pocket. and pulled out a phone. "Hello? Sarah! Hi!" He started chatting. Buffy shook her head in amazement, there was a lot she didn't know. Giles was finishing his conversation.
"Yeah, ok, speak to you soon! Bye!" He pressed a button and turned back to Buffy,
"Sarah," He smiled, "Met her in Israel, lovely girl! Anyway, shall we walk back to my place then?"
They walked along the streets as the sun was coming up. Giles lit up a cigarette and studied the place around him.
"It's strange to be back." He admitted, stretching. "The old place again!" He yawned and Buffy noticed he'd lost weight. They got back to his house. Giles took in the broken door,
"I see you found the spare key!" He said smiling as he lifted up a pot and pulled out a key. "Never mind, I'll fix it when I'm a little less jetlagged. Buffy felt hopeful, maybe that meant he was going to stay. They walked through to the living room where Willow and Tara were lying asleep in each others arms, Xander and Anya were in the process of stripping each other but sprang apart guiltily as they walked in.
"Buffy, um..." Xander trailed off and stared at Giles with his mouth open, "The G-man! Your back!" Giles threw his bag on the couch and winced at the name.
"Xander, Anya, I see you two are still together," He pointed out wryly.
"Yes, we still have sexual intercourse," Anya said seriously.
"Anya," Giles nodded, "Haven't changed a bit." Willow stirred and manoeuvred Tara off her arm, she opened her eyes and tried to focus.
"Giles?" She murmured, Giles knelt down in front of her,
"Hi," He said softly. Willow grinned,
"Hey!" She replied and hugged him. "How's the world?" Giles chuckled,
"It's good." He stood up and looked at the books, he spotted a big black book in the corner. "You didn't look at this one did you?" He asked worriedly crossing over to it.
"We tried but we couldn't understand it," Willow propped herself on one arm. "It's in googly language," Giles looked relieved,
"Good,"
"So Giles," Buffy interrupted, "What about these vampires?" Giles ran a hand over his eyes.
"It can wait." He shrugged, "I'm tired and jet-lagged, I'll tell you tomorrow. Goodnight." He stumbled off into his bedroom.
"Come on Will," Buffy said, pulling her up. "Let's go back to dorm."
"O.k," Willow replied she was still looking dazed. "Come on Tara, seeya Xander, Anya."
They left the house and walked along in the semi-dark. After they dropped Tara off Willow turned to Buffy with a puzzled look on her face.
"I thought you'd be happy to see Giles?" She asked, Buffy looked at her and sighed.
"I am! But it's just he's changed."
"You mean he's got another life now without you," Buffy looked up sharply and then nodded,
"I guess that's it." She admitted, "I don't like it." Willow stopped and pulled Buffy towards her and gave her a hug,
"It'll be okay," she reassured, "It's going to be normal now."
The next day in the afternoon Buffy walked to Giles house, she wondered in and found it looked very empty, she started to panic.
"Giles!" She yelled, spinning round.
"What?" He came sprinting out of the bathroom just in a towel, he was soaking wet with shaving foam all over his face, Buffy looked at him and started laughing, relief making her laugh even harder until tears were running down her face.
"Women!" He grumbled wondering back into the bathroom.
Later on when Giles had more clothes on they were going over the books again, he wondered into the kitchen.
"Black," He muttered going through the cupboards, "Green, furry," He lifted the lid off a jar and smelt it, "Jesus!" He poked his head into the living room, "Coffee?" He asked. Buffy frowned.
"You drink tea." She stated,
"Not anymore," His voice came floating through, "Doesn't keep you awake!" He walked through with two steaming mugs he settled himself down and lit up a cigarette. Buffy looked at him.
"What?" He asked, then he realised. "Oh god, Buffy," There were tears in her eyes. "I can't always be the boring old English librarian, and I don't want to be." He said setting down his mug. "I know I've changed but I think that there's always going to be a bit of Ripper inside me and I'll never get rid of it, I've accepted that now." The tears were flowing now.
"Everyone's changing except me," She whispered, "Willow has Tara, Xander has Anya you have this whole new life and I'm just stuck here."
"You have Riley," He reminded her.
"Not anymore," she shook her head. She told him what she saw the other day.
"I'm sorry," He sighed, placing a hand on her arm. "I know how you feel, imagine how I felt when you and everybody started going to college! You'll find someone else and we're all going to be envious of your life, it will get better, I promise." Buffy looked up at him with a tearstained face.
"Giles, I'm sorry for what I said," He hugged her,
"I know you are." A crash brought them back to reality. Giles groaned.
"It always has to be my house doesn't it?" Some vampires ran into the living room.
"Ah, yes!" Giles turned to her, "So these are the new breed I was telling you about. They can go in daylight."
"Shit," Buffy replied. The Vampires moved towards them. Three of them went for Buffy and three of them went for Giles. Buffy started to get worried. Giles couldn't handle three vampires especially not this new type but her vampires blocked the view. She started fighting them, at first they fought back viciously but after the first one had been killed they were weaker. She finished them off quickly, concern for Giles making her more deadly than usual. She turned to Giles just in time to see him dust the last vampire without a scratch on him. He laughed at her bemused expression.
"When you're all by yourself out in the world without a slayer you learn to take care of yourself!" He said, tossing her a stake. "Right I suppose I'd better clue you in on these creatures." She nodded, "Right well..." Over the next few hours he filled her in on the Vampires. They had somehow managed to get hold of this potion that made them more deadly and able to go out in the daylight. However, Giles assured her, the results are only temporary and the vampires go back to normal and have to get more potion. Apparently that time was tonight, it was going to be tough, he told her, but then again he supposed she was used to that he grinned.
They got to the crypt about three hours early. They had been forced to let Xander and Anya come along though they weren't going to be much help. Willow was there too on the off chance that they would need a spell. Buffy was feeling happy for the first time in months. She'd missed her friend and once watcher, she thought they had a special relationship that no-one else understood, he was like her dad. But he had changed, she was sure of that and she absolutely hated it. She had watched him all day as they had been gathering all the things they'd needed. Giles had been like a different man and he'd flirted with just about anything in a skirt, Xander and Willow had noticed a change too but it didn't affect them the way it affected her. She began to see what he must have been like in his Ripper days. Then she started wondering how long he had wanted to break free from her, his watcher duties, had the relationship she thought they'd had all been in her mind?
Giles looked at Buffy he wished she knew how much this was killing him, he was trying to distance himself from her so it wouldn't hurt her too much when he left again. He didn't want to leave but he knew it was best. He'd done his bit and now it was time for him to go. He'd been all over the place the last few months and he'd wanted to tell her where he was but he couldn't get emotionally attached again. She had a father and it was stupid of him to try and replace him, Joyce had told him as much in the letter she had sent him. He mustn't, whatever he did let himself fall into that role again. As much as I want to, he thought despairingly. He wanted to be her father but he couldn't he knew that, he couldn't. God he needed a fag.
Buffy froze,
"What is it?" Willow asked
"Shhh!" Buffy hissed, "I hear something," As they listened they heard singing coming down towards them,
"This is my island in the sun, where something, something, sod it!" The voice sounded very drunk. Buffy groaned,
"Spike!" Spike fell into view,
"Hey slayer!" He grinned, swaying softly, "Join the party! Tequila?" He brandished a bottle in front of them,
"What are you doing here?" Giles asked,
"Hey Ripper!" Spike tottered towards him, "You're back, been hearing some great stories about you on your travels! Have you told them the one with the wall of china, the vodka and the underwear?" He looked at Buffy, "Believe me it's so funny!" Giles went red and Spike tried to turn round,
"So what're you doing?" He asked before tripping over his legs, he slammed on the floor and started laughing hysterically.
"Spike, why are you here," Buffy asked, she wasn't laughing.
"Came to get me some potion," Spike replied, giggling, "Great stuff, Look I've got a tan!" He pulled up his sleeves to show his bright red skin.
"Great (!)" Buffy groaned, all she needed. Spike stood up.
"So where do I start?" Giles came up behind him and punched him, Spike fell to the floor with a thud and immediately started snoring.
"He hasn't changed," Giles grinned, picking up the tequila bottle from the floor and taking a long swig,
"No but you have," Buffy thought bitterly, they lay and waited, and waited and waited.
By the time the vampires started arriving Willow was asleep and Giles had managed to consume nearly the whole bottle of tequila and was just starting to see the world through rose tinted glasses, he'd also managed to smoke nearly a whole packet of fags to Buffys disgust, she was starting to wish he hadn't come back. Giles could sense how she felt and wished not for the first time that it could be different. At least the alcohol was starting to kick in and numb the pain.
They could see the vampires trickling through the big doors at the front of the building, Giles gently shook Willow and unceremoniously dumped a gagged spike in a corner. They watched as the vampires formed a huge circle around a cauldron bubbling with a thick red potion that looked like blood.
"Spike is going to be so pissed he missed this," Giles hissed out the side of his mouth, trying to lighten the atmosphere, Willow, Xander and Anya were looking in shock at the amount of vampires below them.
"So," Buffy whispered, "now what?" Giles looked at her,
"Well the initial plan was to destroy the potion but I didn't bank on there being so many vampires."
"Well what was plan B?" Giles looked helpless,
"I guess I'll have to call him, I hope he's in a good mood!" Buffy frowned
"Who?" Giles wasn't listening, he started talking in another language. Willow crept up next to Buffy.
"What's he doing?" She asked, Buffy just shook her head. Smoke started to billow around Giles and Willow had to hold Buffy back. Then the smoke cleared and they saw Giles standing next to a cloaked figure. Giles was choking.
"Bloody hell!" He exclaimed waving his arms about, "What the fucks with the smoke?" The cloaked figure shrugged.
"Sorry Ripper, I thought it was effective!" Giles rolled his eyes,
"Well you know that favour you owe me?" He asked, the figure nodded. "Well could you do something about that lot." He gestured towards the vampires, still coughing.
"That's a lot of vampires," The figure shook it's head, "I'll have a go, but you'll have to help." Giles gestured over to Willow,
"She can help you, she's a wicca, I'll go down with Buffy and co. and get ready for the ones you miss."
"The faith you have in me," The figure snapped, Willow came forward,
"What do we do?" She asked,
"Give us 5 minutes," Giles said gathering up his stuff, he kicked Xander who was in mid snog with Anya and headed downstairs. He crouched down with Buffy.
"Get ready," He whispered, Buffy glanced at him, he seemed so sure of himself. After about a minute smoke began to pour out the overhead chamber where they'd been hidden.
"Is that guy safe?" Buffy whispered to Giles,
"He better be," He replied. The smoke began to gather on the floor and swirled about them until they couldn't see a thing. Buffy could hear Giles breathing beside her and behind them she could hear Xander and Anya groping each other again. The smoke started to clear.
"Get ready," Giles hissed, "That includes you two shagging back there," She could feel rather than see Xanders embarrassment. The smoke cleared,
"Go!" Giles sprang out of the door with an energy that surprised Buffy. She glanced around, there were piles of dust all over the floor and only about 20 vampires had survived out of the hundreds that were there. The vampires started to move towards them menacingly.
"Oh shit," She heard Xander sum up the situation. Then they were fighting. For a while they seemed to be winning, even Xander had managed to stake one of them. But then more had appeared, and then more. The room was filling up again and she hadn't got a clue where they were all coming from. They were all fighting automatically now. Punch, duck, kick, stake, she was tired and she couldn't even begin to imagine how the others felt. Giles had blood running down his face and looked exhausted. That's when the thing arrived, it rose up on a chair at the side of the room. She heard Xander stop.
"That is a big vampire!" He said in an awed whisper, "That is like the godfather of vampires!" And she had to admit he was right. This vampire was 8 feet tall, it's teeth were all 10 inches long and they were black, it's eyes were red. Giles froze beside her and all the other vampires dropped back.
"Oh god!" Giles gasped, The vampire leered.
"Ripper," The vampires came and grabbed Buffy, Xander and Anya with about 10 vampires guarding each of them. Leaving Giles standing in the middle of the room.
"It's been a long time," The head vampire hissed. "I remember last time I saw you!" He continued, Giles held his ground. "It looked quite a bit like this didn't it, except you ran didn't you! You left those people that you loved and ran!" Giles went pale and tried to hold back the hurt in his eyes.
"That was a long time ago," He warned.
"Yes but have things changed?" The vampire leaned forward and glared at him, "You were a coward then and you're a coward now!" As if to illustrate his point one of the vampires hit Xander round the head and he fell to his knees with a thud. Out of the corner of his eye Giles could see them dragging Willow out of her hiding place.
Giles didn't say anything, but he glanced towards the big cauldron of potion and smiled to himself. The vampire holding Buffy suddenly twisted her arm back and she cried out in pain. Giles glanced sharply at her with concern in his eyes.
"Can you do it?" The voice of Ripper whispered in his head. Giles grinned, he held out a hand towards the vampire sitting in the chair. He started to whisper.
"Dulche Venporem sasquex," He repeated these words over and over until a ball of light began to form in the palm of his hand. Then an energy ball left his hand and struck the vampire right between the eyes. The vampire cried out in pain, clawing at his face. Giles moved quickly, he ran towards the cauldron with the bubbling red liquid inside. His breath tore from him as he struggled through the spell that had been put upon it. The head vampire bawled an order to the other vampires holding onto Buffy and her friends. They immediately dropped them and sprinted over to Giles who was still battling his way towards to cauldron. Buffy didn't know what the hell was going on but she knew that whatever Giles was doing they didn't like it. She sprang up and tried to stop the vampires from reaching him. Giles finally reached the cauldron, he touched it and cried out in pain when it burned him. He glanced round and saw everyone he cared about fighting for their lives. His face became determined, He grabbed the cauldron trying not to register the intense pain that jolted through his body. Slowly he started to lift it, the pain was getting worse, little white lights were flashing before his eyes, he could smell burning flesh.
"Shit!" He let out an anguished cry, Buffy started towards him feeling his pain. He was gasping still trying to raise the cauldron, he tipped it over so it shattered on the floor below him. He snatched back his hands gasping in pain and looked towards where the head vampire was writhing in his chair.
"That was for all those people I loved!" He gasped the vampire screamed and exploded, dust flew in the air. A dark shadow came at him and screamed at him. Giles stood his ground and stared it in the eyes.
"I'm not afraid," He said quietly, "You killed the people I loved once, I won't let you do it again." He slowly stepped in front of Buffy where she was lying on the floor, surrounded by the thick choking dust. Black clouds swirled around him. He stared the thing before him in the eyes again.
"I'm not afraid," He said again. The red eyes swirled in front of him and the mouth opened wide, ready to engulf him, he closed his eyes and waited for death. Buffy was sobbing. The shadow tried to reach him but cried out in pain. It tried again, but then it started to go backwards into a white light.
"RIPPER!" It screamed one last time, then it was gone. Giles looked up and blinked, there was a cloaked figure standing before him.
"Now you're in my debt!" The figure told him. Giles smiled at him.
"Thank you, thank you!" He whispered gratefully. The figure nodded and turned away disappearing as he walked. Giles sank down to the floor.
"Giles?" It was Buffy, she reached over and took his hands, wincing at the sight. They had been burned by the cauldron right down to the bone in some places.
"Let's go home," She said, looking at him.
When they got back they attended to their wounds, Buffy bathed Giles hands and bandaged them, all the while telling him he should really go to the hospital. He had listened to her but he didn't reply, he knew he had to leave again. That night he let them all sleep round his place. He looked at Buffy sleeping on the sofa, he really wanted to stay and be the dad to her that she had never had. But he couldn't be, she wasn't his daughter. He sighed and picked up his bag. Then he hesitated at the door, he couldn't go again without saying goodbye.
Buffy stretched, there was someone shaking her shoulder she turned around and opened her eyes.
"Hey Giles," She yawned sleepily, "What's..." She saw the bag at his feet and looked up at him, "No!" She pleaded. He shook his head sadly.
"I can't stay," He told her, "I'm sorry, I can't"
"Why not," Her eyes demanded an answer, "Tell me!"
"I just can't..." He trailed of helplessly, "I can't..."
"Can't what!" She snapped.
"I can't stay because I can't be like your father!" He blurted out. He sat down on the edge of the couch. "Your Mother sent me a letter, and it's true, I've been trying to replace your Father," He ran his hands through his hair, "I should have left when I got fired by the council." Buffys eyes were filled with tears. Giles didn't look at her and picked up his bag, "I'm sorry, I should have never come back." Buffy watched as he walked towards the door. She felt hurt welling up inside her.
"Giles," She called, forcing him to turn round and look at her. "I wish you were my Dad." Giles eyes filled with tears when she said that and he turned around and left. Buffy rolled over and cried herself to sleep.
"Buffy, Buffy?" A voice was calling her, she opened her eyes.
"Riley," She jerked upright, "What the hell are you doing here!" Riley put a finger to her lips and gestured to the girl standing behind him. It was the same girl he'd been with the other night.
"Buffy," He said calmly, "I'd like you to meet my sister Rachel, Rachel this is Buffy." Buffy looked at him.
"This is your sister?" She started to smile, "Thank God!" She flung her arms round him and kissed him. "How did you know to come here?" She asked when she eventually resurfaced. Riley grinned.
"Mr. Giles explained to me what had happened, well actually I think his exact words were. 'get the fuck down to my house and start explaining' so I thought I'd better do as he said." Buffy felt hope surge inside her.
"Giles!" She whispered, she glanced over Rileys shoulder at the door, and saw Giles standing there with a smile on his face.
"Giles!" She yelled, she knocked over Riley and ran to the door, Giles caught her as she plummeted towards him and swung her round, laughing delightedly. They hugged as they stood on the doorstep, they shared a love that only fathers and daughters understood.
Epilogue:
Spike woke up groaning,
"Never again!" He moaned, feeling his head. "Ow," He winced as he felt his sunburned arms, then he looked again. Sunburn! He remembered.
"Yes!" He laughed, "I am invincible!" He strode over to the door and flung it open.
"Hello sun!" He shouted, then he felt a familiar sensation, he looked down at his arms. He saw smoke.
"Shit!" He yelled running quickly back inside. "Shit!" He slammed the door and got his breath back then he looked out the window.
"Bugger."
The End
Kind of weird I know, but bare with me! Next time I'll do better!