~Giles~
I sat in my apartment, waiting for each of them to arrive. Though they were
all adults, I could see what my 'protection' was doing to them, and decided
to share what little information I had. Someone might die. Someone that we
all cared for might die.
Each of them could sense that I was holding something back. I sighed. I was
holding far too much back. In my mind, they were all still children, and I
didn't want any one of them to have to suffer the knowledge that they need
not know. I wanted them to have that blessed ignorance that's written of,
that euphoria of being naive. But I couldn't let them walk into battle like
that. I couldn't make them put their lives on the line without telling them
the level truth. I couldn't make their choices.
They were the ones that had to choose.
And although each of them had quietly chosen this path for more than ten
years, we hadn't faced the same kind of threat in quite a long time, and I
needed to be sure. I needed to be sure of them.
I was putting them and myself through Hell because I couldn't decide what the
right thing to do was. And that was simply because I wasn't being honest.
Perhaps if they all backed out.... Well, then we would all probably die, but
maybe not for a longer time than this prophesy had intended to mean. And the
whole point of our lives had been to survive, to keep living.
We used to take this world day by day, and we had gotten complacent about it.
Now, there would be no complacency. There would be no relaxation. I would
always be on my guard. I would always have to be.
Cordelia and Xander were slowly straightening the mess that I had allowed
myself to make, sorting through the important papers and putting the
unimportant ones away, when Buffy and Willow walked through the door. They
came bearing several different bags, each of them full, and two boxes, with
large smiles on their faces. I stood wearily, feeling the tiredness seep
through my bones.
I wasn't a young man when I started working as a Watcher, but I was being
reminded about how much older I was now every minute.
"Donuts!" Buffy called.
Xander and Cordelia lifted themselves off of the couch, too, and took a
couple of the bags that loaded Buffy and Willow down. "What did you get us?"
W laughed. "Look through them. You'll know which is yours."
Buffy, however, held onto the two boxes and walked over to me. I saw concern
residing deep in her eyes, shadowing the blue, and she had a small, worried
frown on her face. She held out the boxes. "This one's for you, Giles," she
murmured, studying me thoroughly.
"Thank you." I accepted them and looked inside. Two dozen jelly donuts were
hidden in there, each of them, I suspected, raspberry. My favorite. I
looked back at Buffy in confusion.
She shrugged modestly, the hint of a smile flickering over her face. "For
I sat in my apartment, waiting for each of them to arrive. Though they were
all adults, I could see what my 'protection' was doing to them, and decided
to share what little information I had. Someone might die. Someone that we
all cared for might die.
Each of them could sense that I was holding something back. I sighed. I was
holding far too much back. In my mind, they were all still children, and I
didn't want any one of them to have to suffer the knowledge that they need
not know. I wanted them to have that blessed ignorance that's written of,
that euphoria of being naive. But I couldn't let them walk into battle like
that. I couldn't make them put their lives on the line without telling them
the level truth. I couldn't make their choices.
They were the ones that had to choose.
And although each of them had quietly chosen this path for more than ten
years, we hadn't faced the same kind of threat in quite a long time, and I
needed to be sure. I needed to be sure of them.
I was putting them and myself through Hell because I couldn't decide what the
right thing to do was. And that was simply because I wasn't being honest.
Perhaps if they all backed out.... Well, then we would all probably die, but
maybe not for a longer time than this prophesy had intended to mean. And the
whole point of our lives had been to survive, to keep living.
We used to take this world day by day, and we had gotten complacent about it.
Now, there would be no complacency. There would be no relaxation. I would
always be on my guard. I would always have to be.
Cordelia and Xander were slowly straightening the mess that I had allowed
myself to make, sorting through the important papers and putting the
unimportant ones away, when Buffy and Willow walked through the door. They
came bearing several different bags, each of them full, and two boxes, with
large smiles on their faces. I stood wearily, feeling the tiredness seep
through my bones.
I wasn't a young man when I started working as a Watcher, but I was being
reminded about how much older I was now every minute.
"Donuts!" Buffy called.
Xander and Cordelia lifted themselves off of the couch, too, and took a
couple of the bags that loaded Buffy and Willow down. "What did you get us?"
W laughed. "Look through them. You'll know which is yours."
Buffy, however, held onto the two boxes and walked over to me. I saw concern
residing deep in her eyes, shadowing the blue, and she had a small, worried
frown on her face. She held out the boxes. "This one's for you, Giles," she
murmured, studying me thoroughly.
"Thank you." I accepted them and looked inside. Two dozen jelly donuts were
hidden in there, each of them, I suspected, raspberry. My favorite. I
looked back at Buffy in confusion.
She shrugged modestly, the hint of a smile flickering over her face. "For