The bedroom door opened and Dawn slipped in with a small pile of clothes, which she placed on the dressing table.
"Dawn." Xander whispered, not wanting to wake Willow. Dawn paused near the door, unsure of what to do. In the end she padded softly over to Xander's side.
"Hey." She whispered back.
"Hey Dawn Patrol." Dawn liked Xander's nickname for her. He reached over and brushed away a stray hair from her eyes.
"How you feeling?" she felt stupid by asking. Xander gave a small smirk.
"I've had better days."
"A lot of that going around lately." She half joked. Dawn marveled at how Xander had an almost supernatural ability to make her feel a little better, to inject even the smallest bit of light and humor into the darkest moments.
And for this she loved him even more.
"What about you?" he enquired.
"I'll live."
"Where's Buffy?"
"She's gone to pick Giles up from the hospital and grab you some clothes from your place. I've put some of Willow's clothes on the dressing table."
"Ok." A moment of silence passed.
"You want anything? Some breakfast or something?"
"I'll pass on the food for the moment but some hot buttered pain killers would be nice."
Dawn smiled for the first time in a long while.
"Sure thing." She started to move but stopped and took hold of Xander's hand.
"Love you Xan."
"I love you too Dawnie." Xander looked over at the sleeping redhead.
"I love all my girls."
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Omnia vestra in caritate fiant
(Let all your things be done in love.)
-----
"3:30 this afternoon? OK. See you then. Bye." Buffy hung up the phone, glad that one of the more unpleasant but necessary tasks for the day was done. When the coroner had picked up Tara's body, they had left the name of a company that specialized in cleaning up crime scenes after the police had finished collecting evidence.
With Sunnydale being the way it was, Buffy was sure that it was a high demand business.
Heading out of the kitchen, Buffy flopped down on the couch in the lounge room and looked over to her Watcher.
She noticed that the lines in his face were deeper and there was more gray in his hair than she remembered. The events of the last few days had taken their toll on them all and his injuries added to his aged look. But Buffy had to face the fact that it had been a long time since she had first teamed up with a stuffy yet lovable Watcher. None of them were getting any younger and Giles hadn't been young to start with.
With a sinking feeling, Buffy realized that she had known Giles for years, fighting beside him, depending on him to be a key part of her life as both a Slayer and a person, yet she had no idea how old he was or even when his birthday was.
She didn't even know when the man she loved as a father was born.
Yet another thing on her long list of things to regret and fix.
Giles for his part watched as Buffy got up and moved over to him. She snuggled close to him and he put his arm around her, giving her the comfort she silently sought from him.
In the beginning he had tried to keep his distance from his Slayer. A Slayer's life was often brutal and short and he had been taught that emotional attachment was inappropriate and harmful.
Like all the best lies, it was a mix of both truth and lie.
He had, over the years, become close to her, her family, and her friends. He had once been sacked for having a father's love for her. Giles had then had spent the next few years trying to avoid that role only to discover that now he didn't want to.
He had hurt both himself and Buffy in his efforts to deny what was in his heart.
That denial ended now.
Father and daughter held each other, drawing comfort and silently expressing their bond.
Ten minutes later, Dawn came down the stairs and sat down on the other side of Giles.
"How are they?" Giles asked.
"Willow's a wreck. She wouldn't eat, she hasn't stopped crying, and she's showing no signs of letting go of Xander any time soon. Not that Xander is showing any signs of letting her go either." Dawn observed.
"We really need to get Xander to hospital to get those ribs checked out. Then there's the matter of getting the window fixed and calling Xander's boss and telling him that Xander wouldn't be at work for a while." Buffy listed. She hoped that Xander wouldn't loose his job.
"Buffy, when you call Xander's boss, see if he can recommend somebody to fix the window and the bullet holes in the side of the house."
"There's bullet holes in the side of the house?" Buffy didn't remember seeing any, but then the last time she was out in the back yard she was too busy watching Xander trying to save her life.
Again.
"Yeah. I... I went out there while you were picking Giles up." It had been tough for Dawn to stand where so much death and destruction had started. A moment, that's all it took. The time it took for a blood vessel to rupture, a body to fall from a tower, or a bullet to fly and her world came crashing down.
"Oh. Ok, well, I better call Xander's boss." Buffy said a little awkwardly and headed over to make the call.
Over the past two years, Buffy had called Xander's boss a number of times, usually to inform him that Xander would be late or not in that day, usually due to Hellmouth related causes. His boss ('just call me Jim') was always friendly and understanding and never gave Xander any grief about the amount of time he had off from work. Indeed, Buffy was surprised that Xander still had his job, not because of any lack of ability or work ethic on Xander's part, rather the amount of time he had taken off for various 'family emergencies'.
"Robinson Construction, this is Emily speaking."
"Hi, it's Buffy Summers calling on behalf of Xander Harris. Can I speak to Mr. Robinson?"
"Oh! Buffy, I heard about the shooting on the news. I'm so sorry about what happened. How are things over there?"
"Pretty bad." 'Understatement of the year' Buffy thought to her self.
"Xander's Ok, isn't he?" there was a tone of genuine worry in her voice.
"He'll be Ok, eventually." Buffy informed Emily
"Thank God. He's such a sweet guy. Just hold on and I'll get hold of Mr. Robinson for you."
There was a couple of seconds of music as Buffy was put on hold.
"Buffy? Jim Robinson."
"Mr. Robinson..."
"Just call me Jim."
"Uh, Ok."
"Emily told me what happened over at your place. Is everyone alright?"
Buffy sighed.
"No. We lost one of the nicest people in the world and came close to loosing a lot more." 'Try six billion' Buffy thought.
"Damn. There's not really much I can say at a time like this. How's Xander holding up?"
"Cuts, bruises, I think he's got some broken ribs but I can't be sure until I get him to the hospital. I'm not sure when that will be though."
"Don't worry, Xander can take all the time off as he needs on full pay. He's too valuable a person to loose, but I already guess you know that."
"Yeah, I do now." A hint of anger directed at herself for her selfishness crept into her voice.
"Buffy."
"Yeah."
"What can I do to help you?"
"I'm sorry, I'm not quite..."
"Buffy, at times like this you need all the help you can get. Tell me what I can do."
Jim's firm yet gentle insistence on helping touched her.
"You might be able to give me a number for someone to do some house repairs. There's a bunch of bullet holes in the side of the house and a window as well. I'm kinda hoping that you might know someone that can fix it. I don't have that much money at the moment but..."
"Say no more. I'll send someone out to have a look and see what we can arrange."
"Thanks Jim. Bye."
Hanging up the phone, Buffy went back to curl up next to Giles. The three of them curled up together provided a feeling of family that all of them had been missing for so long.
-----
Inclinatus sum et incurvatus nimis; tota die contristatus ingrediebar.
(I am miserable and am bowed down: all the day long I walked in sadness.)
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