Here ya go! :) And just so you know, this isn't thew end. I have at least one more chapter up my sleeve, so please do review so I'll be happy and post it soon. ;) LOL. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of the story. Good night for now!

NOTE: I'm thinking the name if the post-Becoming Part 2 AU is going to be titled "Still Here" so ya'll can look for that soon-ish. Later!

Chapter 12

With Rella's spell protecting them, Buffy led Angel and the witch and her friends straight to Giles's room unimpeded. She went to her Watcher's bedside, where the chair she'd been using the afternoon before still sat.

"What now?" she asked, glancing back at Rella.

The older woman took in the room and the patient and the chair where it stood, and she motioned everyone but Willow and Tara to the far side of the room, out of the way. "Sit, and take his hand," she said to Buffy. "Since it is not myself going into his mind, there needs to be a physical connection between the two of you to direct the spell."

Buffy did as she was told. She sat, slid the chair as close as it would go and took Giles's hand in both of hers. The IV was in the other one, so there was nothing stopping her from holding tightly. She watched as Rella, Willow, and Tara took hands and stood in a small circle a few feet away, with Rella facing the bed and Slayer and Watcher. The older witch smiled gently at Buffy.

"I am ready. Are you?"

"As I'll ever be."

"It may be disorienting. There is no transition. You are here, and then you will be there. In all probability it will seem just as real as this world."

The Slayer nodded in understanding. "How do I get back out?"

"I will know when to pull you out. I'll sense that you want it to be done."

"Okay; sounds good." She cast a look around the room at the rest of her friends. "Wish me luck?"

Xander pumped a fist. "Knock 'em dead! Or, you know, not really. We kinda need him."

Buffy chuckled once. "I know what you mean."

"Bring him back," Willow said quietly, echoing all of their thoughts.
"I'm not coming out until Giles comes with me." She looked back to Rella. "Start your engines; let's do this thing."

The woman nodded, and closed her eyes. Willow and Tara closed their in response, and Buffy thought she saw a crackle of energy begin at Rella's hands and travel through the other two young witches. She didn't watch long enough to know; she straightened in her chair to look at Giles—

And then she was standing in the loft in his apartment.

Buffy scowled, blinking in confusion as she turned a circle or two to confirm where she was. The familiar setting of Giles's home made some sense, if his nightmare was semi-realistic as hers had been. She assumed the spell had simply put her wherever Giles was in this world, because that would be the only thing that made sense, and she spun again to find him.

He wasn't up here.

Then why was she in the loft? She never came up here. All that was up here was the bedroom, of sorts, for the apartment.

Then she heard the door open downstairs.

Buffy took a quick step toward the stairs, but paused. Maybe there was a reason she was up here. Whether Rella, or her own subconsious, or the spell itself had done it and set her down here, she realized the advantage of being up here. She could both hear and see what was going on downstairs before she confronted Giles. She could see how he was doing, get a feel for just what kind of nightmare he was being forced to live here—get an idea of how to snap him out of it.

She sank to her knees and crawled quietly to the railing around the edge of the loft, sliding into a corner beside a dresser to be certain she could see down, but no one could see her. For now, anyway.

It wasn't only Giles coming in; someone was bringing him in, using their shoulders as support to keep the Watcher on his feet. They were both carrying weapons—vampire and demon slaying weapons—which they promptly dropped onto the top of Giles's weapons chest at the back of the couch as Giles pulled away and leaned on the couch itself to go around it and drop onto it. His companion snorted and walked around to stare at him, and that was when the confused denial gave way and Buffy had to realize that it was Spike.

"You know, I'm all for the killing things and for the drinking, might I add, but the former might be a little easier if you weren't perpetually hung over and getting in my way," the vampire grumbled loudly.

Giles grimaced and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, and I might not need to drink so much if you weren't the only one left with which to go out killing things. I don't know why I even bother to let you help; it's my duty, but it's not yours."

"I do it because it's fun, and you don't let me help. I do it because I want to, you couldn't stop me if you tried, and since we usually happen to be in the same place, I might as well make sure you don't get yourself killed."

"I can't imagine why you care."

"I don't, see, and don't you forget it. I still hate you just like I did the rest of them. But with the Slayer and her little groupies out of the picture, I need to keep somebody around I can kill once I get this sodding chip out of my head," Spike huffed, blowing useless steam as always.

Out of the picture? Buffy wondered, suddenly feeling sick to her stomach. Where had all of them gone? Were she and the others all dead here?

Downstairs, Giles shook his head and staggered back to his feet. He went straight for the alcohol bottles on the counter, and snatched a clean glass that was already sitting there with them. "If you're done mouthing off for tonight, would you please get out of my apartment?" he muttered tiredly.

Spike stared at his back for a moment, and then shrugged. "Whatever. Drink yourself to death; I don't care," he said tersely, heading for the door.

"I thought you wanted to kill me once you were able? If that ever happens," Giles answered without turning. He'd managed to pour what Buffy thought was scotch into the glass, and he drank, seeming unconcerned with if Spike replied again.

The vampire spun back, hand on the door knob. "Yeah, I thought so too, but now that I think about it, it probably wouldn't be any fun anymore. You're too bloody pathetic." Then Spike flung open the door and stormed out into the night.

Buffy watched Giles stare at the door, and when it didn't close on its own he shuffled over to it, under the loft and out of her line of sight. She heard the door click as it was closed, and a moment later there was a soft thump. She could hear him breathing heavily, as if trying not to cry.

She bit back tears of her own and quietly came down from the loft. When she stepped silently off of the stairs she could see her Watcher sitting on the ground against the door. He'd finished off what was in the glass in his hand, and he held it empty as he stared into nothing.

Oh god, Giles, what happened here?

She didn't know she'd sobbed until he looked up.

Giles went white, and the glass fell from his hand and shattered on the floor. "B-Buffy...?"

"Giles—" She started toward him, but he clamored to his feet and backed clumsily away. "Giles, it's okay. It's me. Listen, this—"

But he wasn't listening. His eyes wide, he pulled his glasses from his face and left them on the counter as he went quickly around to put it between them. "No. No no no, this isn't—"

"Giles!" He looked up, leaning heavily on the counter, and she paused on the other side. "Stop it. Just...whatever you're thinking, stop. Right now. I am not a hallucination, or a ghost, or whatever the hell else you might think I am, okay? This is serious, and you need to listen to me." He squinted, but he didn't protest. Encouraged, Buffy took a breath and went on. "Look, remember Sohlehk?"

Giles snorted miserably. "I remember him killing you."

Buffy opened her mouth, but nothing came out at first. Her throat already hurt from holding back the tears—holding back how much it hurt to see Giles like this—and the confirmation of what she'd feared din't help any. "I—Giles...no. Listen, it didn't happen, okay? I-I'm not dead. I'm fine. This is all a nightmare, Giles. Sohlehk did the same thing to you that he did to me."

He blinked once or twice at her, not comprehending.

"We're in your head. This isn't real. Angel...he's in Sunnydale. He had Wesley track down a witch with enough power to send me in here after you. I don't know how long it's been in here, but it's old been a couple of days in the real world. And everything's okay there, I promise."

Giles looked away and swallowed, and his face drew into a reserved calm, as if he'd realized something. "I wish that were true," he murmured softly. "But this is just another dream."

"No it's not! You're trapped in here, and you need to snap out of it. We need you out there."

He wouldn't quite looking at her. "Even if it were true, you don't need me. Me...I only wanted to be needed."

Buffy stared at him. "Giles...I asked you to be my Watcher again. I wouldn't have done that without a reason."

"You were frightened; that was the reason. I'm sure you would have been all right on your own, if you had to be. You would have found the answers you wanted with or without me. You hadn't needed me in some time. You would have been fine."

She shook her head and leaned into her side of the counter as she looked at him. "No...I wouldn't have. Yeah, sure, I'm looking forward to having your help figuring this stuff out, but I don't just want the help. I want you, Giles. I want you here. You're my Watcher, no matter what the damn Council says. I need you."

He looked at her, and his eyes were damp. "It doesn't matter. You're not really here, and I'll wake up soon. I always do."

Buffy let out a breath in frustration. "God! Giles, did you not hear a word I just said? This is me. I'm real." She stalked around into the kitchen and grabbed his arm. "You want proof? See? Real. Now can we please get out of here?"

Giles jerked away, backing into the only wall the kitchen had that wasn't blocked by appliances or the counter or cut away by the door. He bumped into it and stayed there, wide-eyed. "N-no, you're not..."

"Please don't use the but-you-can-touch-things-in-dreams-cause-after-all-they're-dreams-and-that-doesn't-prove-anything excuse. Cause yeah, this is a dream. It's a nightmare. It's the nightmare Sohlehk put you in, and I'm here to get you out," she shot back, hands on hips.

He swallowed, staring at her in confusion. "No, I...I don't understand. The demon never touched me—not with his...whatever it was, the energy..."

"The nightmare probably rearranged itself so you wouldn't remember that part, or something, since that would have given it away seeing as you already knew what that weird crap of his could do thanks to his doing it to me. But I promise you, Giles, that this is not real. You're in the hospital, and the doctors think you're in a coma. You need to wake up."

Giles sank to the floor, staring at nothing again as he tried to sort through it all. "But...it's been months. It's...real. You and Xander...you're dead. The others are gone. They left. It's been months..."

Buffy grimaced, and her throat was suddenly clogged. Xander too? And the others...God, had it really been that bad? "No, Giles. It's hasn't even been two days," she said unsteadily.

He was breathing hard again, confused, and he flinched when she knelt beside him. "It's okay..."

His head shook. "No...it happened. Y-you died. I failed..."

"You didn't. I'm right here, Giles," she said gently, taking his hands and squeezing. "I'm okay, and you can come back with me. We need you to wake up; we need you. I need you..."

Giles only stared. He squeezed back as if he wanted to believe, but it was clear he wasn't there yet. What he said was, "I've missed you..."

"In my dream, you died," she told him shakily. "I missed you too." She swallowed. "Look, I know this is hard to understand. It took some convincing to make me believe the world was real when I came out of it, too. You were there. You were the one that made me believe it, remember?"

He nodded slowly.

She nodded back. "Good. It's good you remember that much. You have to believe me, Giles. You're trapped like I was, and you're never going to come out of it if you don't believe me. You can't stay here—you don't want to stay here, do you? We're out there, and we're waiting for you, and you have to wake up..." She trailed off, and choked on the lump in her throat as a few of the tears found their way free. "Please. I can't lose you."

That was all she had. She didn't know what else to tell him, and all she could do was look at him pleadingly as he stared back at her.

Finally he sobbed. "Buffy...?"

She nodded. "Yeah..."

And Giles cried. It wasn't the first time she'd seen it, and she did what she'd done the only other time she had. Buffy slid closer and pulled his head to her shoulder and wrapped her arms around him, and she held him. She was there. She cried some too, but she was there.

"I'm sorry..." he sobbed, holding on in return.

"For what? It's okay, Giles. It'll be okay, I promise. Don't be sorry; just wake up—"

And she did.

Buffy sat up wish a gasp, awake though she didn't know any part of her had asked for it.

"Buffy!"

The surprised yelp had come from more than one of her friends, but they weren't who she was worried about at the moment. Her hands were still curled around one of Giles's, and she held one there to squeeze it even as she moved the other to his shoulder and stood up to get a better look at her Watcher's face.

"Giles...?" she asked hopefully.

"What happened?"

"Did it work?"

Buffy shushed the voices behind her when she heard a soft moan, and a moment later Giles moved. Just a little.

Then his eyes flickered open.

"Giles!" She'd leaned in and kissed his brow before she knew she'd decided to, but she was too relieved to be embarrassed. "Thank god! Don't ever do that again!"

Giles blinked furiously in confusion for a moment, thrown off by the transition to the real world and the unexpected show of affection besides. "Buffy..."

"I'm right here," she smiled softly. "You're back."

It took another moment, but he focused on her, and when he had—and seemed to finally realize what had just happened—he gave her a tired, thankful smile. She felt him squeeze her hand in return. "Yes...it seems that I am."

"Giles!"

"He's awake!"

"He's okay; it worked!"

That was all the moment they had, before the others swooped in enthusiastically from behind to welcome Giles back, but that was all right.

Giles was here, and he was going to be fine.

There would be time for plenty of other moments later, Buffy thought as she smiled to herself.

That was what mattered.


"Thanks again, for everything..."

Angel shrugged, hands stuffed in his pockets under his jacket. It was a natural pose for him. He and Buffy had retreated from Giles's room and now stood back in the lobby, alone but for the general bustle around them. She crossed her arms tightly, and he could still see what was left over of her worry for her Watcher.

"Really. If you hadn't been here, I mean...I'm sure we could have found someone with enough mojo to help us get the job done, but it probably would have taken longer, and I don't even want to think about how long that could have been for Giles." She grimaced. "It had already been months for him when I found him. I don't know how many, but still..."

"Buffy," Angel said gently, "He's going to be fine."

She sighed, smiled a little, but then it faded and she shuddered slightly. "I know. It's just...you have no idea what it was like in there. And yes, I'm still fine," she added before he could ask.

"Just making sure."

"I know," she answered kindly. The two of them fell into awkward silence for a moment, and Angel wished it didn't have to be like this. He wished it like he knew he always would. But...fate was fate. The future was never certain, but the present was clear.

"Well I think you've pretty much got the general idea on how we are here," Buffy said finally. "What about LA?"

"Not much to tell. We get a case, we solve it, we help people...it's what we do. We're still working out of Cordelia's apartment at the moment, seeing as the old building got blown up, but—"

"Blown up?"

"Really long, really confusing story; another one you probably don't want to hear. There's no leather, but there are lawyers." Buffy made an amusing disgusted face that he had to admit was cute, and he laughed once. "Yeah."

She looked at him for a moment. "So I guess you're headed back now, huh?"

"Yeah...put the top and windows up on the car before we came in so we wouldn't have to stick around in your way once we were done here."

"Well you're not in the way..."

"I think the new boyfriend would say otherwise."

"You don't have an excuse for not knowing his name anymore, you know."

"Fine, Riley would probably say otherwise. Happy now?"

Buffy shrugged, and because she wasn't quite looking at him he couldn't tell if she was smiling.

He was going to miss her.

Angel heard someone come up from behind him, and turned just in time to see Rella stop at his side. "If you will give me the keys I will bring your car into the shade at the back of the building so that we may be on our way."

"You will, huh?" he asked skeptically.

"Just because I do not own a vehicle at the moment does not mean I am not more than capable of handling one," the witch replied archly.

Unfortunately, there had been no real parking spaces in shade adjacent to the building, and they'd had to assume they would be inside too long to leave a vehicle in an unauthorized place without risking it being towed. As much as he wasn't fond of anyone else driving his car, even across a parking lot, he was going to have no choice in this one.

"Okay," he said reluctantly, pulling the keys from his pocket and reluctantly handing them over. "Just be careful."

Rella rolled her eyes and snatched them from him, before smiling at Buffy and nodding in acknowledgement. "Goodbye, Miss Summers. I hope you and your friends will be well." Buffy thanked the witch again for her services, and Rella strode from the waiting room.

"Interesting, that one," the Slayer observed once the older woman had gone.

"You should have been in the car with her on the way over here." Angel's gaze returned to Buffy, and he sighed. "Guess that's my cue."

"Yeah...guess so."

"Well you know where to find me, you know, if you need anything."

She nodded. "Yes I do." She raised an eyebrow. "You know, a whole lot of crazy crap happens around here; you should tell Cordelia to have visions about us more often."

He chuckled. "I don't think she has any say."

"Still, subliminal messaging...might make a difference."

"I'll have to try that."

Angel took the first step back, even though he didn't want to. "Take care of yourself."

"I will," Buffy said, and the look on her face told him she was grateful for the sentiment. "You too."

He nodded, and after another moment slowly turned and headed for the door. Halfway there he turned back briefly. "And Buffy? The new boyfriend?" She looked at him, eyebrow up again. "I still don't like him." Angel smirked a little, and after a job well done was able to leave with the memory of Buffy laughing behind him as he went.

It was more than he would have dared to hope for, so he wasn't complaining.


Waking had been more than a little confusing at first, and Giles was still adjusting. The Scoobies had crowded in the moment they were sure he was all right, and Buffy had slipped behind them and disappeared. He'd caught a glimpse of Angel leaving the room, and assumed he'd followed her. If he remembered correctly what Buffy had said, he had the vampire to thank, in part, for Buffy's being able to rescue him.

One of the gang fetched a doctor, and soon the rest of them had been ushered from the room to allow the woman to do her job in checking up on him. By the time she'd assesed what Giles already suspected—that there was no medical explanation for his being awake, but he seemed fine, etc etc—Buffy had reappeared at the door.

"I thought I told the lot of you to leave him alone for a few hours," the doctor scolded as she left. "Mr. Giles still has a good bit of healing to do, and now that he's awake, the last thing he's going to need is stress."

Buffy held up both hands from where she stood just outside the door, being blocked from entering by the stocky woman in front of her. "Hey, not planning to cause any stress here." The doctor stared at her. "I'll just be a minute, I promise."

After another moment the woman "humphed" and moved on, and Buffy slipped into the room.

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

Giles could only shrug with one shoulder, so he didn't bother doing it with either. He was in some pain, but whatever the IVs had been pumping into him besides nutrients was otherwise doing it's job. Still... "I must say I've been better. However, the good doctor there mentioned that I'm expected to make a full recovery now that I am, in fact, awake."

"Yep. That's what they told us, too. Glad of it here, by the way. Anyway, sorry for running out there...you had enough of them coming at you, and I had to see Angel off," she said, coming back to his bedside.

"That's quite all right; I understand."

Buffy nodded once. "So...Rella didn't come out right away. The witch who helped me get in there after you, I mean. Did you get a chance to meet her?"

"I did, briefly. She introduced herself before she left. I might have liked to get to know her a bit better, but apparently she has other business to attend to."

His Slayer shrugged. "Guess so. She was nice, though. She let Willow and Tara in on the spell even though she didn't have to. Oh! My god, did you hear that Wesley actually saved her life and that was why she agreed to help?"

Rupert's eyebrows climbed immediately. "Wesley Wyndam-Pryce?"

"Yep. Good old Wes."

"Huh."

"That was pretty much my reaction."

Neither of them said anything for a moment.

Giles was the one to break the silence. "Buffy, are you all right?" he asked gently.

She winced. "It was only four or five weeks for me, Giles. It was so much longer for you."

"That's not what I asked."

Buffy made another face, and sighed. "I know."

He waited.

Finally she really looked at him. "Giles...I didn't give the others any details either. I'm just really not ready to talk about it, okay?"

Giles would never have pushed too hard in the first place, but in this instance he truly understood. "No...no, I don't suppose I am, either."

Buffy gave a facial shrug, and after only a brief hesitation she took his hand, as she'd had it when he woke. "But hey...everybody's alive, and we're both in the real world now. That's a plus." She smiled. "We'll be okay, right?"

Not everything was worked out yet. There would have to be talking, at some point—more than the words they'd both said when Buffy rescued him from his nightmare, though that had been a good start. But that would come in its own time. For now, though...

Rupert smiled back in answer.

They would be okay.