A/N- I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but I'm afraid to rewrite it in case it comes out worse. Enjoy
Goodbye
"It's a shame that it had to be this way, it's not enough to say I'm sorry. It's not enough to say I'm sorry. Maybe I'm to blame or maybe we're the same, but either way I can't breathe. Either way I can't breathe. All I had to say is goodbye, we're better off this way."
'Goodbye'- Secondhand Serenade
Evan sprinted into the garage, the keys to his father's car in his hand, as soon as he heard the rumble of the motorcycle pull into the driveway. It had been two hours since Buffy and Dakota had left for the hospital, two long hours of the 13 year old waiting for a father he wasn't sure would come back by morning.
"We have to go the hospital!" Evan yelled, his green eyes wide in terror as the keys were tossed at his father.
"What are you talking about, Evan?" Giles asked, bending down to pick the fallen keys.
"There's no time, Dad." He was tugging on his father's hand, teeth grinding together in determination to get some movement. "We have to hurry!"
"Not until you tell me what's going on,"
The sheer stubbornness of his father was the last straw for the 13 year old, causing him to pull even harder on his father's hand with the help of his abilities. He had only intended to use enough magick to get his father to the car but had ended up sending the older man crashing into the wall behind him.
"Crap!" Evan muttered, running over the crumpled form of his father. "Sorry, Dad."
"I've had worse," Giles pushed himself to his feet and looked down at his son, worry on his face. "Tell me what's going on in the car."
They had barely gotten out of the driveway before Evan launched off in an explanation on what had happened in his father's absence.
"So I've been waiting for two hours for you to get home," he was gasping for breath, his gaze locked on his father's profile. "I don't know how Brennan is, but we have to get there soon because it's been two and a half hours since the crash and Mum and Dakota are already there, and I've had to wait for you…"
"Evan," Giles cut him off as he glanced at the 13 year old. "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to wait for me,"
"What were you doing for two hours?" his eyes widened at the faint smell of alcohol before hurt flashed in his eyes. "How come you drink every time you and Mum fight?"
"What?" Giles looked down at his now dry shirt, but that didn't mean the smell had worn off. "I wasn't drinking, Bug. I happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time…someone threw a bottle at me."
The rest of the car ride was silent until Giles cleared his throat as he pulled into the hospital parking lot. He turned off the engine and placed a hand on Evan's shoulder to keep him in the seat.
"I want you to be prepared, Evan." The Watcher was staring at the steering wheel, not sure he could handle the expression on his son's face. "Things will probably change between all us, and I want you to know that I never wanted it to be this way."
"Dad?" he felt anxiety flood over him at his father's words, but he received no answer.
With a heavy sigh, Evan followed Giles out of the car and hurried towards the hospital. As they made their way to the room Brennan had been put in, the 13 year old did his best to take his father's advice but no preparation in the world would help him get through his mother's reaction.
"You bastard!" Buffy yelled, rushing up to Giles and slamming her fists against his chest; Giles' look of pain increasing with every blow until he finally gripped her wrists together. "Let go of me,"
Evan stood to the side and watched as his mother broke free of his father's hold, the sound of the slap echoing in the hospital room. Dakota jumped to his feet and pulled his younger brother to the other side of Brennan's bed, both boys staring at their parents.
"Tell me when he wakes up," Giles simply said before turning to leave the room, his cheek throbbing in pain.
He had made it a few feet from the room before his wife pulled him to face her.
"You don't get to walk out on us again, Rupert." She fumed, her arms hugging her torso as she glared at him. "That damn brother of yours put my son in the hospital. He caused Brennan to run into a brick wall and sure, his bones are gonna heal and he'll end up with some scars…"
"Then why are you so mad at me if he's going to be fine, Buffy?"
"Because he'll have little to no vision in his right eye! A large piece of glass was imbedded in his eye and did serious damage to it," the blonde explained, trying her best not to slap him in front of the occasion passing hospital staff. "You promised me Stephen wouldn't come near the boys, that he wanted you and not us. If you had just taken care of this in the first place, we wouldn't be here…"
"If I had taken care of this?" Giles interrupted, feeling his anger and frustration boiling under his skin. "You mean the way you took care of Angelus? You don't get to lecture me about having opportunities of preventing things, not after what I lost because you couldn't bring yourself to stake a psychotic vampire!"
"For as long I've known you, you've never had anything to lose. Not a life, not friends…nothing. So what did you lose, Rupert?"
"I lost the woman I loved! The woman I could have had a future with, but you took that from me. Just like you've taken everything else," he knew he shouldn't have said it, but everything had been coming down to this and he couldn't stop himself now. "I lost Jenny because of you. I never got a chance to tell her how much I loved her, but it didn't matter how upset I was because it didn't have anything to do with you!"
The more reasonable part of him wanted to stop at the tears that had collected in her eyes, but everything that he had kept to himself wanted to be said.
"But we got over that, or at least you did." He continued, taking no notice of Dakota or Evan standing in the doorway. "That pales in comparison to me finding out from Anya that you were pregnant. Imagine how I felt, Buffy; I was about to board a plane to England to get away from you when I find out that you were pregnant again. The big slap in the face was finding out you had lost the baby months after it happened. Having Dawn tell me about Spike trying to rape you was horrible, but to learn that he had killed my child- my unborn daughter…I've always had something to lose, Buffy. You've just been so absorbed in your own world that you've never noticed,"
"Do you even want me to go into all of the things I lost because you?" there was hate in her eyes as Buffy stared at him. "I lost a normal life, Rupert! The chance to be happily married without having to worry about shit like this…and you weren't the only one that Spike hurt. You weren't there to protect me, and it cost us. So you don't get to stand there and yell at me for losing our baby when it could've been prevented if you had stayed."
"You really expected me to stay after what I found out you had been going behind my back shagging that fucking monster?" they were attracting a small crowd, but neither seemed to care. "Do you understand how I felt after you came back? You were keeping me at a distance and it hurt me, Buffy. You stopped caring about the people who care about you, about your family. So I left, and I couldn't take the boys with me at the time so I let Anya take them because you clearly wouldn't have taken care of them."
Another slap and silence settled over the area. Buffy walked back to the hospital room, telling Dakota and Evan to go home with Giles. Evan walked over to his father while Dakota argued with his mother about wanting to stay with her.
"Kota, I need you to go with your father." She told him, sending a glare her husband's way. "You'll be safer there,"
The 16 year old stood in the room a moment longer before walking over to Giles and Evan. As the three made their way down the hall, the Watcher muttered for his sons to wait before heading back to Brennan's room.
"You really need to leave, Rupert." Buffy warned.
"I am, but there's something I need to tell you." Giles was looking at his son, trying to keep Buffy from seeing the torment in his eyes. "When this over with, so are we."
"What?"
"I can't keep doing this when we're both so miserable, Buffy. It isn't fair to you or the boys,"
Watcher and Slayer stood in the room as the weight of Giles's words sunk in. Giles couldn't bring himself to look at her, his gaze focused on the recovering body of his oldest. Even though he was the one who had said the words, it didn't make them less painful.
"Giles…" the tremor in the Slayer's voice nearly broke his resolve, nearly being the key word.
"It's for the best. As soon as Stephen's taken care of, I'll call the lawyer and start looking for a place to live. No need for you to move out," the words kept coming out no matter how much he wished he could take them back. "The boys can live with you and continue going to the same schools. Call me when Brennan wakes up,"
Without another word, Giles turned and left the room. Once he reached Dakota and Evan, they continued on their way to his car and drove home in silence.
"Your mum and I are getting a divorce," Giles muttered as they turned on to their street.
Dakota and Evan just sat in shock at the news, the 16 year old going into action once they pulled into the driveway.
"I hate you," Dakota said. "And the divorce? This is the best thing you've ever done as a husband and a father."
The car door slammed as Dakota got out, followed by the slamming of the door leading into the house. Giles just sat in the car as Evan stared at him.
"Dad…"the 13 year old started, stopping when his father held up his hand.
"Stay in the house, and make sure Dakota doesn't go anywhere." He instructed as he put the car in reverse. "I love you, Evan. Just like I love your mum and your brothers. Tell them how much I love them, and that I'm sorry."
"Why? You can tell them yourself." Evan couldn't help but feel the dread settle in his gut.
"I'm going after Stephen," Giles finally looked at his son and pulled him into a hug, kissing the top of his head. "Go in the house and stay there."
Confused, Evan got out of the car and watched as his father pulled out of the driveway. The 13 year old made his way into the house and just stared at Dakota.
"Where's he going?" the 16 year old asked, not picking up on his younger brother's mood. "He's running again, isn't he?"
"You're a prick, Kota." Evan marched over to his brother and gave him a good shove. "Dad loves you, and all you do is treat him like crap. Sure, he's made mistakes but so has Mum and I don't see you acting like this around her. So just shut the hell up about Dad,"
"What's gotten into you?"
"Dad went looking for Stephen," he glared when Dakota opened his mouth, no doubt about to criticize their father again.
"So why do you look like someone died?" Dakota jumped up to sit on the counter, running his fingers through his mused hair.
"I think Dad might,"
Green eyes locked with blue eyes as the seriousness of the upcoming events hit both teenagers.
