Disclaimer: I own nothing below except the plot. All characters, locations, and concepts are owned under their respective copyrights.
Spoilers and Timeline: Buffy up to season 2 "Passion"
Author's Note: Suggestions for future plot developments and character focus are wanted and appreciated.
Only Two
Chapter 4
Jenny quickly crawled over to Giles. She took his head into her lap. So it wouldn't keep banging against the carpet. His body was still jerking about in spasms. His skin was pale and clammy. His mouth had slammed shut when he collapsed, and he had a little blood on his lips.
The spasms partially stopped. There was the odd jerk of an arm or leg every couple of seconds. More worrying, was that Giles was still unconscious. His breathing was normal, for now. Jenny moved from his head to his side and began to try and make him more comfortable. Wiping the blood off of his face as she moved.
She looked over her shoulder "Willow, go call 911, Oz go get Buffy." at their looks and lack of movement she prodded "Quickly, as in now you two." At that the two teens got up and went to the phone in the kitchen at the back of the back of the house.
Jenny was trying figure out if Giles was stable when there was a knock at the front door. Xander got up to look through the peep-hole. He sprang back from the door and looked at Ms. Calendar "It's Dead boy, um, he can't get in here right?"
Jenny was about to respond when Buffy entered the room from the back of the house, where she was on watch. Buffy looked at Xander and ordered "Open the door, we did the un-invite here already. The spell worked right? Ms. Calendar?"
Jenny nodded, part with the certainty of the power she felt coursing through her earlier, and partly with the hope that Angel's soul was brought back. A tortured soul unnaturally housed in the body of an infamous vampire was preferable to the terror she had experienced at the hands of the unfettered demon.
Xander slowly opened the door, ready to close it at the slightest hint that it was Angelus on the other side. Xander still remembered when Willow had nearly been killed in front of him, or when Angelus had grabbed him during the fiasco with the love spell.
He remembered how terrified he was, which was amplified when Drusilla had saved and then hit on him and thought to show her affection for him, this affection included killing and making him a vampire.
Buffy and Jenny looked at Angel, searching for a sign, one in hope, the other with wary nervousness. Angel surveyed the room, taking in Buffy first, hardly noticing Cordelia still sitting on the couch, noticing Xander peeking from behind the door. Finally he swept his gaze left to the rest of the room, his eyes widening when he saw the two people on the floor.
The woman he had killed, he saw her body crumple at his feet, he felt the bones in her neck crack, and he had heard when she had taken her last breath. Yet here she was, very much alive and trying to tend to the prone and jerky form of Giles. Angel expressed his confusion with a gesture and one word "How?"
"It's a story, not mine to tell, Angel?" Buffy was almost pleading with her question.
Angel turned his attention away from the impossible and to the slayer he loved "Buffy, what I, or he said to you, the day after, I'm sor-"
"Angel, it's you. he wouldn't apologise, I know you, those things, about us, It wasn't you. What's with the knocking?" Buffy felt the weight, that had descended since Angelus had surfaced and Angel was lost to her, lift from her heart and spirit.
Angel then remembered why he had completed Angelus' futile journey to the house. "Buffy, I think I killed your mom, I can't be sure, Spike and Drusilla showed up. I don't know what happened after I left, Angelus feared getting the soul back, he was coming here to try to stop it."
Angel turned to Ms. Calendar "That's why he went after you." Angel didn't dare apologize, how would he go about saying 'I'm sorry' to someone he had terrorized, chased, and killed like they were in some cheesy slasher flick.
"Yeah, we should really talk about that sometime." Jenny had a hard edge to her voice, she was in no mood to forgive at the moment. She looked up at the vampire still silhouetted in the doorway. "Why did you come here? If you were so concerned, why didn't you go back to her house right away?"
Angel blinked, the computer teacher was not the same woman he had saved from Eyghon, nor was she the person who was terrified and wide-eyed in his grasp, right before he killed her, he reflected that she must have had some small spark of hope that he would spare her, he had seen it in her eyes right before the twist.
Now she was determined and decisive. He decided to match her determination "I came to get Buffy, we'll be safer together if we run into Spike and Dru."
"That's fine, Xander, Cordelia, go with them." Jenny's reply set off a storm of protests from Xander and Cordelia.
Buffy made the entirely reasonable objection. "Ms. Calendar, we'll move faster without them, and I don't want to worry about Xander."
Jenny turned towards Buffy sharply, she had kept her watch locked on the vampire. "Cordelia can drive you, and Buffy, Rupert trusted your judgment, that trust almost got your friends killed, it did get me killed, so forgive me if I don't share his faith in you, especially when it comes to Angel, I know how you feel about each other, I will not take the chance of leaving you two alone. So, I am sending an escort along with you. And from here on, no one goes out alone, think of it like a buddy system." Jenny vividly remembered the last time she was truly alone.
Buffy and Cordelia were about to protest again when Angel cut-in "She's right, we acted rashly and I love you Buffy, I should have tried to have more control. I've seen enough to know better." he turned to Jenny and said "Thank you, -"
Angel was about to say more when Willow and Oz re-entered the room and Willow informed them "Ms. Calendar, the ambulance is on its way, and..." she saw Angel "does everybody else see Angel?"
At the affirmative nods around the room she continued "oh good, I thought this was a nightmare, not that I have those, but you know, well, it's been kinda stressful around here, and look my hand is shaking cause I am so scared, and why am I still talking, somebody stop me." Oz did just that by clamping a hand over her mouth.
He smiled at her muffled "Thank you." and turned to the rest. "I think what she was trying to say was 'is that Angel or Angelus?' so who is it?"
Buffy answered and Willow noticed a lightness to her voice, a tone she hadn't heard since the Judge had been brought to town. As if things were finally returning to what passed for normal "Yeah, it's Angel, I'm still having a hard time with it, it feels like something should've happened to mess this up."
Oz had moved his hand, and Willow asked "So, what happens now?"
"Angel, Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia are going to go over to her house, Angel told us he attacked Buffy's mom, we and that includes you Willow are going to go to the hospital with Rupert." Jenny turned to Buffy "That's where we'll be, once you find something, let us know, be careful."
Buffy answered her "We will, so come on everybody, let's get going already." Buffy's tone masked the worry that she felt, she would have to ask Angel what he did. Angelus was smart and cruel, and he only made a move when he was almost certain of success.
With that the vampire, the slayer, and their chaperones left. Jenny let out a sigh, as much as she trusted the spell, she was glad Angel was gone, now she turned back to Giles, he still hadn't woken up. His skin had regained some of its color. Jenny worried with a dash of anger 'Dammit, England, what am I supposed to do, I'm not going to just sit here and watch you die.' Her thoughts whirled around this subject until the ambulance showed up.
! #$%^&*()
They were in the hospital waiting room, it had been a couple of hours since the paramedics had taken Giles back for testing and the myriad other medical stuff that happened behind closed doors in buildings like this.
Willow was sipping some dark beverage that could have been Cola or coffee, either way the caffeine-induced vibration was already showing up.
Oz was reading a back issue of People magazine, and continually scanning the room, if the last few days had taught him anything, it was how threatening the world could be. Angelus had been in Buffy's and Willow's bedrooms, and Oz still thought about how he could easily have mourned Willow instead of her fish, he didn't know why Angelus hadn't killed either one of them, whatever the reason, he was glad. Oz agreed with Ms. Calendar's buddy system. It made a certain kind of sense. He for one would follow it if he could.
For her part Jenny was sleeping, the stress of the day, and the energy spent doing the spell, had all but forced her eyes closed when she hit the uncomfortable chair. Her slight snoring punctuated the silence in the room.
Willow looked up from her drink to consider the teacher across from her, she remembered the power that Ms. Calendar showed when doing the spell, Willow wanted to learn more about this. And she even had a teacher for it. She bounced in her seat, turned to Oz, and whispered "Are you worried about the others?"
"Not sure if I should be, they have been gone awhile though, so that's freaksome." Oz stopped his reading and scanning.
Willow blinked, thinking about her own worry for her friends "I know, but now that Angel's back things should be better, I mean at least Buffy won't be so mopey anymore."
"It seems that way, I hope everything will be okay, I don't know about her though." Oz gestured to Ms. Calendar.
Willow sighed at that "You didn't see them as a couple, it was so cute, Giles would get all stutter-y around her, and then there was that demon possession, and we found out about who she really was, so they weren't around each other much. I wonder how he is doing?"
"I don't know about that either, that spell they were talking about, seems like Giles made a trade, she was dead and now she's alive, I hope I'm wrong about what's going to happen to him." Oz wrapped an arm around a suddenly pensive Willow, who kept looking at the doors where the doctor would come out to tell them about Giles.
At that point, the rest of the Scooby gang arrived in the waiting room. Their expressions ranging from shaken (Cordelia) to sour (Angel). They were talking about their discovery and later adventure.
Ms. Calendar jerked awake with a mumbled still sleepy "huh?"
Buffy filled her in "We got to my house, and my mom was gone, and Drusilla," Buffy spat the name with venom "got the drop on us and was using Xander as a human shield before we knew she was there."
Xander chimed with mock cheerfulness "Do I have a 'designated hostage' sign on my back, and what's with demon girls, Praying Mantis Lady, Mummy girl, and now this vamp chick twice, is it me?"
Willow countered with a smile "Nope, it's not you, it's the town. So, you're here and alive, who saved you?" Willow looked expectantly at Buffy, who shook her head in the negative.
"Not Buffy, or Angel, sorry Wil, but Cordy had a cross, after all the creepy messages, the vampire made some crack about 'Poor princess' after Cor shoved the cross at the back of her head." Xander was re-living the memory of being helpless and shuddered.
Jenny asked "Buffy, you said your mother was gone, is she still alive?"
"I'm sure of it. Within all the cryptic stuff, Drusilla said she knew about Giles, and that her and Spike wanted a truce, they wouldn't do anything as long as we stayed away, my mom is just insurance, They'll kill her if we try anything." Buffy recounted this with increasing distaste.
Jenny thought about what Buffy's mom must be going through, that is if Drusilla was telling the truth, though if she was really dead, there would be no way to keep Buffy from going after the two vampires. "How do you know?"
"We went to the factory, and they had my mom in a cage, and they had a bunch of vamps around, we couldn't get too close. Spike and his weird girlfriend were arguing about what to do with her. Spike kept saying they should keep her alive, because and I quote 'I don't want to deal with a pissed off Slayer now, she's trouble enough.' Not that I trust Spike as far as I can throw him, but he is in that wheelchair." Buffy kept her expression as she said this, she was thinking about how to get her mom out of this, it'd be nice to have Giles around now.
Jenny considered for a moment "I wouldn't trust them either, Rupert called some people earlier, and the other Slayer is coming here. When she gets here, maybe you can work out a way to rescue your mom."
"Thanks Ms. Calendar, why didn't he say he had asked Kendra to come here? Kind of an important piece of information, don't you think?" Buffy was relieved, with Kendra and Angel around, they could definitely come up with a plan, Buffy just hoped her mom was kept alive.
Jenny turned towards the doors where Giles was with an unreadable expression "He had to deal with a lot today and last night, It seemed like a small thing when he made the call, he thought the spell would kill him right away, so he's been coping with that, and didn't make that many plans. And he wrote notes to all of us, typical Rupert, I'll show them to you when we have the time."
"That's Giles alright." Buffy said sadly.
The door to the back of the hospital opened and a doctor emerged, with the name tag 'Dr. Gaines' adorning a short older man with grey hair and thick glasses.
Gaines addressed the group "Are all of you here for Rupert Giles?"
As one the group nodded and Gaines continued "Normally, I wouldn't tell anyone but family about his condition, but it seems none of his family is nearby and you were the one s who called for him, so I'll make an exception. Mr. Giles suffered a seizure and has now slipped into a coma. He is unresponsive to treatment, our tests have come back negative, we can't find anything obviously wrong, it's just that his brain and body are shutting down. If he continues to deteriorate, he'll be dead in a week."
There were gasps of shock from the group, all except for Angel and Jenny, the first knew pretty much what to expect while the second just said to the doctor. "Thank you for telling us, can we see him?"
The doctor smiled kindly "I am sorry, but visiting hours are over, I suggest you all go home, who should we call if anything changes?"
Jenny motioned for Buffy to come over and faced the doctor "You should call me first, if that doesn't work, call her, she's the closest thing to family he has around here. If neither one of us is home, call the high school, we'll both be there."
The doctor maintained his earlier smile "Thank you, don't give up hope, we might still find something."
Jenny knew better, but she didn't share with the doctor, he wouldn't believe her anyway, so she simply nodded and the doctor left.
Jenny turned to rest of the group "We should all go get some sleep, Angel, will you stay here for the night? I don't want to leave him alone. The rest of you, I want to meet in the library after school. And Angel, tomorrow night, I need to talk to you, will you come to the school?"
"Of course." How could Angel repay Giles for what he had risked, for Angel as well as for the woman making the request.
Angel sat back down while the rest got up to leave, they would need their sleep, Ms. Calendar was not going to let Giles just waste away, she hoped there was something she could find to bring Rupert back to her, while she knew there was one option that would certainly work, she didn't want to jump right to it until every other option was exhausted.