NEEDED
By Sauscony

E-mail: sauscony@forty-two.co.nz
Rating: PG
Summary: An alternate ending to Buffy vs. Dracula
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel characters are copyrighted ©20th Century Fox, Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and the WB, and are used without permission. No copyright infringment is intended.

"How could you keep something this important a secret?"

Buffy turned around in the front seat to glare at her best friend, but she sounded much more upset that angry, which made Willow feel even worse.

"He made me promise," she protested in a small voice. "He said there was something he needed to tell me, and then he said it was a secret and I couldn't tell you. But then I knew there was something, so I had to know what the something was, but he made me promise first and..."

"Babbling, Will," Xander offered without taking his eyes off the road. The traffic was steady rather than heavy, but they had merged with the main route up to Los Angeles now and he didn't want any accidents. Especially since Buffy might do him a serious injury in they didn't get to LAX before Giles' plane left.

"Why?" Buffy demanded as Willow trailed off into silence.

"I told you," Willow answered, her voice stronger now. "I promised."

Buffy shook her head impatiently. "No. Why did Giles decide to leave?"

"Oh."

Willow hesitated, not sure how best to answer that question, a hundred possibilities spinning through her head, all designed to soften the blow and make Buffy feel better. But in the end she decided that for once, bluntness was her only option.

"He feels we don't need him anymore," she said simply.

Buffy stared at her, shocked into speechlessness.

"But I do so need him," she exclaimed finally, totally unaware she had shifted the pronoun from plural to singular. "Of course I need him. He's...he's Giles. He's my Watcher."

"Not technically," Xander pointed out as he shifted lanes to pass a slow moving Chevy Chevelle. "He got fired and you quit."

"But..." Buffy began and stopped. Willow could see her looking back over the last eighteen months, stacking the evidence up against herself and finding herself guilty.

"Oh," she said in a very quiet voice. "Oh." She sat back in her seat, a determined look on her face. "Xander, drive faster."