Okay so I haven't watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer since I was a kid. However, a clip popped up on Youtube awhile back that I'd forgotten about- the scene in Helpness when Cordelia shows up right after Buffy's found out that Giles drugged her. The scene ends with Cordelia driving a shaken Buffy home, and based on my research the episode moves on from there.

But what if it didn't?

This scene played out in my head, so I decided to write it out as a 'Lost Scene', ie one I felt would work quite well as a follow up. Enjoy!

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"I don't know you"

Somehow, after everything else he had seen and heard throughout his life, it was those four words which struck Rupert Giles the most. The fear, the betrayal, and worse yet, the fact that all of it was justified. Buffy had thought she'd known him, thought she could trust him. And what had he done?

He'd followed orders.

Of course he'd struggled, but this was how things had always been done- who was he to change that? Yet now, sitting alone in the library, his charge's words still fresh in his ear, he wished he'd fought against the Council's wishes. Explained that things were different now.

But he hadn't. And he didn't know what to do.

The sound of footsteps in the hallway distracted him from his thoughts. Could Buffy have returned? Doubtful. She'd seemed quite intent on leaving, and he couldn't blame her. Perhaps Willow or Xander? If either of them had learned what he had done, Giles knew they would be far from pleased. Or worse yet- Angel. He and the vampire rarely saw eye to eye, and this was not the sort of thing that would change that.

Only it wasn't any of them.

It was Cordelia.

Rare as it was for her to ever step foot in the library, twice in one night was pushing it. But it wasn't her appearance that troubled him. It was the look on her face.

Rage.

"Who do you think you are?"

Giles wasn't sure how to respond, but Cordelia didn't give him the chance. The next thing he knew she had slapped him across the face, and the Watcher found himself unsure of how to act.

"I..."

Another slap, and the look on Cordelia's face intensified. He had never seen the normally dim, valley-girl-esque young woman so angry.

"In the car, Buffy told me... Told me what you did... How could you?"

"It..." Giles started, finally trying to speak. "It's a test... One countless Slayers before have..."

"Yea, she said that too. Look, I may not know all that much about the whole supernatural end-of-the-world bullshit you all deal with on a daily basis, but I do know this. You betrayed her. You drugged a teenage girl against her will. In any other world, that's assault."

Giles sighed. He wanted to argue, but for once, he had no words. No defence. The unease he had already felt was heavier now, and Cordelia was simply adding further weight to him. He could barely face her.

"Look at me."

The Watcher did, and saw the fury in the young woman's eyes fade but for a moment. Yet if he thought she was through, he was dead wrong.

"Whatever happens, however this little test they have planned for her ends, you need to know something. You lost her trust. And take it from me, trust isn't something people easily give."

Had this come from any of the others, Giles wouldn't have been surprised. But coming from Cordelia somehow made it all the worse. She wasn't involved, wasn't truly part of their 'gang'. Most of the time, he didn't even consider her all that bright. Yet here she was, rendering him speechless with the truth.

"You're right." Two words Rupert Giles never expected to say, especially where Cordelia Chase was concerned. But what else could he say? He'd already begun to question his actions, this was simply the final push he needed to truly understand just how badly he had messed up.

"I know."

Then, without another word, Cordelia walked over to one of the bookshelves and picked up a book on Bosnia for her research paper. Giles didn't even bother to stop her, simply watched her head for the door.

But before she left, the woman looked back at the Watcher one last time. Only this time, her eyes were filled with- was that pity? Somehow that made it all the worse.

"Figure your shit out, Giles. For Buffy's sake."